[Big scene] Another shock on Muir Island

[pyro-by-nature.livejournal.com]

Kitty still seemed slightly numb the next day. Although it was colder than it had been on her first day on the island, she and John still rugged up and went down to the beach after breakfast. 
They didn’t talk much as they attempted to fight the wind and build a castle from the damp, dark sand. After they’d given it up for a lost cause and dusted themselves off, they made their way back to the facility. Kitty seemed a little more cheerful, until they got back to John’s room and she remembered she had to pack.

She and Doctor McCoy were leaving at 3pm, and John had decided to stay longer with Dr MacTaggart, to do more tests.
John gave Kitty a bag of things to distribute as she saw fit back at the institute. It was mostly Edinburgh Rock, Highland toffee and various British chocolate bars that John knew the most of students wouldn’t have seen before and therefore would probably enjoy the novelty of.

        

 

“’Yorkie. It’s not for girls’?” Kitty asked, looking at one big block of chocolate.

“Yeah, that’s for Bobby. With his sweet tooth he’s bound to like chocolate that’s marketed at guys.”

 

Kitty giggled. She continued going through the bag.

“I’m guessing the whiskey is for Ali” she commented.

“Yeah. And there’s a sticker in there for Jono, seeing as he can’t really chew on toffee or anything”

Kitty found the sticker and cracked up laughing.

 

“Just charming” she said.

“Might look good on his guitar case.” John commented. “I wanted to get some local beer for Logan, but they don’t do it in six packs, just straight off tap. And beside, I probably couldn’t have trusted you to deliver it safely, anyway” John said wryly. Kitty stuck her tongue out at him.



"Who's the skirt for?" Kitty asked, holding the item to her slender hips. "Not me, obviously, it's way too big."
John raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "It's not a skirt, sweetheart, it's a kilt."
"Oh, right!" Kitty said, smiling.
"And it's for Keller...." John said, smirking.
Kitty gawped at him, incredulous. "You got a kilt for Keller?" she said flatly.
"Yeah. Tell him I picked blue to go with his eyes." John said.
Kitty looked at him, trying to not giggle. "John, is there something I should know?"
John grinned and chuckled. "You wish! He got me something... excellent... for my birthday. So I wanted to, uh, return the favour, so to speak..."
Kitty watched him, her eyes narrowing "He sent you porn, didn't he?" she asked.
John said nothing, and just smiled serenely at her. 
Kitties rolled her eyes at him, and tossed the kilt unceremoniously back into the bag.

By 2:30 pm Kitty was packed and ready to go, but left her bags in John’s room until they could find Hank McCoy. They found him outside the lab’s meeting room.

“Hey! How did your summit thingy go?” Kitty asked cordially.

Hank nodded cautiously. “We achieved what we set out to do. Now all we have to do his face the repercussions of our decisions,” he said grimly.

Kitty looked at him, curious.

“We need to talk,” he said to Kitty and John. He led them into the meeting room and gestured to them to sit. They pulled up seats next to one another and looked expectantly at him.

“The UN have appointed Erik Lehnsherr sovereign of Genosha.”

“You have got to be kidding” Kitty said, disbelieving. She glanced at John, but his face was neutral, and she couldn’t read his eyes.

Hank shook his head sagely. “No, Kitty, I’m not. He’s been granted a conditional pardon for his past activities, on the condition that he peacefully rectifies the civil situation on Genosha.”

“The guy’s a terrorist, and instead of punishing him for his actions, they’re giving him his own country? That’s not right, Hank! He can’t be trusted!”

“Kitty, the situation in Genosha is far worse than anyone realised. The uprising by the Genoshan Mutates is out of control; they desperately need placating and the UN Security council believes Magneto is the right man for the job. The Mutates were bred and engineered to be slaves, and now that they’ve overthrown their masters, they need someone to lead them. Someone who understands them. And in return, we have Magneto where we can keep an eye on him. Trust me, he’s going to have his hands full bringing order to the country- he won’t have time to cause trouble anywhere else.”

“What about the non-Mutants on the island?” John said quietly, looking at Hank. “I read somewhere that a quarter of the population isn’t mutated at all.”

“A lot of the non-Mutant population has been under attack, so first and foremost they will be given protection. They’re to have equal rights.”

John raised his eyebrows, unconvinced.

“We’ve also got someone on the inside; someone to look over Magneto’s shoulder, that we can trust implicitly.”

“The Professor” Kitty breathed.

“Right” Hank said with a small smile.

“That’s why he’s not coming back to the school.”

The group fell silent, and again Kitty tried to read John’s face.

Hank was looking at John, a guarded, serious expression in his eyes.

“John… Magneto is here, to meet with Charles, and he would like to speak with you.”

A strange expression darted across John’s face as he glanced at the doctor. He looked away, staring into empty space for a moment, thinking hard.

“Fine” he said simply.

“John… you don’t have to” Kitty said urgently.

“It’s all right. I’m not scared of him,” John said, not sparing her a glance.

Hank stood. “I’ll bring him in.” He exited the room.

Kitty watched John, but he avoided her eyes.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” she said.

John shrugged. 

The door reopened and Hank led Erik Lehnsherr into the room. Kitty’s eyes narrowed as she looked the older man over. He seemed to have aged since the last time she saw him, and he had traded his helmet and cape for a dark grey suit, which he wore with a deep plum coloured shirt and blood red tie. She glanced over at John, whose posture had changed considerably. He was sitting up in his seat, almost as though he had come to attention when the older man had entered the room, yet his chin was raised, and there was a cold, defiant look in his eyes.

“Would you give us a moment?” Magneto said cordially to Kitty and Hank.

Hank nodded politely, and left the room, looking expectantly over his shoulder at Kitty.

“I’m not leaving” Kitty said crisply.

Magneto looked to John, who nodded his assent that she stay.

Magneto inclined his head towards her slightly. “As you wish, my dear.”

He moved further into the room, and pulled up a seat opposite John and Kitty, resting his hands on the table, and he studied the younger man as an uncle might study a favourite nephew.

“Pyro” he began. “Or should I just call you St John?”

“John’s fine” John said dismissively.

“I wish I could say you’re looking well, but it’s fairly obvious you’ve been ill. I was genuinely sorry when I heard you’d been diagnosed with Legacy.”

“I was sorry to hear you got Cured” John said, smirking at the older man. “With you and Mystique out, it kinda put the kabbosh on the whole Brotherhood thing.”

“I know you tried to continue without me, and that you tried to find me.”

“And couldn’t. You conveniently disappeared without a trace.” John said coldly. “Quite a vanishing act.”

“Indeed. And I am sorry for abandoning you like you that, but I really had no choice”

“Neither did I.” John said, the smirk fading.

“I know John. And I know you think I want to punish you for walking away from the world we were trying to create together… but I’m not angry with you. I don’t blame you at all for going back to them. Where else did you have to turn?” Magneto said reasonably.

 “I’m just lucky they took me back at all.” John said. “You know, when the Cured didn’t work, I though for sure you’d come after me. But as it turns out, you’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

“Isn’t it a blessing to live in a world where men like us get second chances” Magneto commented.

“Yeah. You get to be king of Genosha. I’ll be happy to just graduate high school.”

“I see you’ve made your most of your second chance,” Magneto said, favouring him with a smile and a brief glance towards Kitty, who bristled and returned a look sharp enough to cut glass. He politely ignored her and continued “So you’ve been getting treatment for this abomination of an illness?”

“Yeah. Turns out the treatment is almost as bad as the disease itself.”

“The people who made this disease will pay for it.”

John shrugged. “Sure. But when it comes right down to it, I’ve got no one to blame but myself”

Magneto looked surprised. “I’d have though you’d be rather angry, seeing as your life is being ruined by someone else’s prejudices.”

“What’s the point of that? It doesn’t help him, does it?” Kitty said.

“No, but it does shed rather unpleasant light on the people we’re sharing the planet with. After all, Humankind has a rather disturbing way of repeating history’s mistakes” Magneto said coldly. “The Government gave Native Americans blankets laced with Smallpox in the hope of eradicating them. Give the undesirables a disease so they’ll go away. Did you know that a few years ago Morlocks were hunted down, captured and drugged, only to be released several days later? Slowly, their numbers began to dwindle. Can you guess why?”

“Are you claming they were intentionally infected with Legacy?” Kitty said.

“And then released back to their fellow Morlocks, and fellow Mutants, to spread the disease, yes.” Magneto said flatly. “I’m sure we both know how you became infected, St John.” he added casually. Kitty cast a curious glance at John, who avoided her eyes.

“You’re talking about an organised attempt to kill a lot of people with a very random disease….” Kitty said cynically.

“Yes. And where else in history have we heard about the planned the extermination of a race?” Magneto said indignantly. “You’re sounding very naïve, Miss Pryde. Or should it really be Miss Prydeman. Your paternal grandfather was interned at Auschwitz, was he not? You of all people should understand the repercussions of these type of actions. Did he ever tell you stories about what they did at those camps?”

“He never wanted to talk about those days,” Kitty said darkly.

“That’s a shame. You could have done with the enlightening.” 

“Well, I don’t plan to get it from the likes of you” Kitty retorted.

They fell silent for a moment, Kitty glaring across the table at Magneto- who calmly watched John- who avoided both the others’ eyes.

“I’d like to speak with you alone now, St John” Magneto said quietly.

Slowly, John turned to Kitty “It’s okay, Kitty.”

“No” Kitty said in a low voice.

John opened his mouth to reassure her again, but then he saw the look in her eyes- she wasn’t just scared that Magneto would hurt him; she was scared that he would leave again with Magneto. He stood up and gently pulled to her feet, then turned his back to Magneto. He took her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes.

“I love you. I’m not going anywhere.”

Kitty blinked and let out a shuddering breath of surprise- not just because it was the first time he’d actually said those words to her, but also because he seemed to have completely read her mind.

“I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes, okay” he assured her.

Kitty nodded; distracted, and made for the door, giving Lehnsherr one more heated look before she exited.

Magneto turned to John with a smile “I see why you like her. She has spirit.”

“In spades” John said simply, not willing to let the old man draw Kitty into the conversation.

“Genosha will need people like you and Miss Pryde” Magneto said, cutting right to the chase. “Strong leaders.”

John gave a low, bitter laugh. “Me? A leader? You’re kidding, right? I was henchman, a lackey. Nothing much else.”

“You were smart and strong and willing to do what it took to get the job done.”

John shrugged, and tried to look casual. “Times change.”

“But deep down, people don’t. I saw something in you, Pyro. A spark- no pun intended. I took you in and nurtured you, because you wanted to change the world.”

“Yeah, I wanted change. But mostly I was a seventeen year old who needed his ego massaged. What the hell did I know?” John said sourly.

“You once believed in the cause. Have you given it up so easily?” Magneto asked, genuinely disappointed in his formed protégé.

“No. I still know what I am. But I found out the hard way that what you were preaching wasn’t going to work any better than what we were spoon-fed at the Institute.” John said bitterly.

“So what will you do, John?” Magneto said, a hint of sarcasm creeping into his voice. “While I, and others like me are rebuilding places like Genosha, where our kind have been so badly exploited. Will you turn your back on us?”

John studied him for a moment. “MacTaggart says if I look after myself, I could live another ten, maybe twelve years with this disease. Or maybe I’ll only manage another two or three. No one knows. So for whatever time I’ve got left, the only side I’m going to choose to be on is my own. I’m going to do what suits me.”

“And what about Miss Pryde? I don’t see why she couldn’t be persuaded. As I said, we need leaders in Genosha. She’d be ideal….”

“She’s an X-Man, first and foremost. And I’m not ever going to try to convince her of anything otherwise.” John said, smirking.

“You disappoint me, Pyro” Magneto said lightly.

“Yeah, I think that’s my other Mutant ability.” John said sarcastically.

“Is there nothing I can do to change your position? Nothing I can offer you- other than peace and prosperity for our kind, and safety from persecution?”

John shrugged. “You’re too late for me, Erik.” He said quietly. “And I don’t need any more blood on my hands.”

Magneto’s mouth set into a firm, disapproving line. “Fine” he breathed.

John stood and started to walk from the room.

“Do you love her?” Magneto asked him gently.

“Yes” John answered. He glanced back at the man who had once been his mentor. Magneto seemed to be struggling with what to say next.

“Look after yourself, John” he said quietly, but he didn’t quite manage to make the statement truly free of malice.

John smirked. “Have fun being king and all.”

 

Kitty breathed the biggest, most obvious sigh of relief when she saw John walking towards her down the hall. A grin slowly spread across John’s face at her reaction, and he immediately put his arms around her when she was within reach.

“You didn’t really think I was gonna take off again with him, did you?” John asked.

Kitty sighed. “We’ve had so many shocks the past few days… nothing would have surprised me.” She said honestly, cringing slightly.

John shook his head no, and rested his cheek against her forehead. After a moment she pulled away from him slightly, and could tell from the look in her eyes that she needed to talk about some of the things Magneto had said.

“Okay… let’s just go somewhere private” he said, defeated.

 

Kitty turned to him the minute he’d closed the door to his apartment.

“Is what Magneto said true? You tried to carry on the Brotherhood after Alcatraz?”

“Yes” John admitted. “But Magneto had disappeared, Mystique had turned on us, Juggy and Madrox got captured and I hadn’t seen Sabretooth in months… plus, I was on the run myself. I was pretty much screwed.”

“And that’s why you came back” Kitty said, irritated and disappointed.

John tried to give her a wry smile. “I was half expecting to be turned into the government when I did. But things didn’t quite turn out how I expected.

Kitty turned away from him and folded her arms. “I knew you came back because you had nowhere else to go, but I kinda though you also wanted another chance.”

“Not at first” John said quietly, slowly moving towards her. “I was just kinda biding my time. But then… things changed. My priorities changed, some things became less important, while other things became more so.”

“Such as?” Kitty asked bitterly.

“You” John said, running a hand up her back. She tensed slightly, but he didn’t back off. “I stopped being so angry at the world when I started looking at it like you do. I started to see other possibilities. Jesus, Kitty… didn’t you read that letter I gave you before I came here? How I felt, how I feel now… it was all in there.” He said, frustrated.

Kitty’s head dropped, and she drew in a deep, slow breath then turned to him.

“I know, John” she said quietly, then shook her head as if to clear it. “I’m sorry I doubted you just now. I know you better than that. Magneto just… it just scared me, the thought that you might want to be on his side again.”

“I’m done with all that. You’re the only person I’d fight for now, Kitty” John said, drawing her into his arms. She hugged him fiercely for several minutes, and John steeled himself, because he knew the conversation wasn’t quite over.

“John…” Kitty began again “How did you get Legacy? Magneto made it sound like there was something to it. What happened? Did you get taken and infected?” she pulled away and looked up at him, frightened and expectant.

John sighed deeply and closed his eyes. He opened them again and looked at her, his lips pressed together in a frown.

“Kitty…” he tried to begin. He’d thought about this moment many times, but he’d never quite figured out how to tell her, because he was certain she would hate him.

“Was it from sex?” she said quietly.

John blinked and nodded reflexively.

“Was it…” Kitty sighed and tried again.” You said you’d been with someone, and it was a bad experience, and that’s why you never wanted to talk about it. Was it that?”

“Yes” John admitted. “It was stupid and reckless, but I didn’t realise just how reckless at the time.” He said, looking away from Kitty’s eyes.

Kitty nodded “John, it’s not your fault. How were you to know?” she said gently. “It was with a Morlock, wasn’t it? Someone who maybe was at the Alcatraz battle?”

John’s mouth twitched into a bitter smile. “Callisto”

Kitty blinked several times and stared at him, though he continued to avoid her eyes.

“Oh” was all she said.

They were silent for several minutes.

“I know she tried to kill Storm at Alcatraz, and that Storm had to take her down. That’s why I never wanted to tell you. I figured you’d be pretty disgusted.” John said matter-of-factly.

“Callisto…” Kitty whispered.

John sighed. “She probably didn’t even know she had Legacy when she-” John broke off.

“Or maybe she did know” Kitty said in a hollow sort of voice “And she wanted to infect you on purpose. She seemed like the sort of person who’s be cruel enough to think that was funny.”

“Well, I’ll never know. And there’s not much I can do about it now, anyway.”

“Why didn’t you have safe sex?” Kitty demanded “Maybe she didn’t learn about it at Morlock school, but you did. You should have known-” Kitty broke off when she saw the incredulous look on John’s face.

“I guess I forgot to pack condoms,” John said sarcastically, and Kitty blushed.

“I’m sorry, John. Oh god, I didn’t mean to-”

“Forget it.” John said with a sigh. They lapsed into silence again.

“Look, us saying bitchy things at each other isn’t going to change anything. I had sex with Callisto; I got Legacy, now you know. What’s done is done, and I can’t exactly go back and change it.” John finally met Kitty’s eyes again. “I understand if you think I’m disgusting.”

“No” Kitty said sadly. “I just… how could you, with her?” Kitty said uncomfortably.

“It was a long time before I came back to the school, and fell in love with you, Kitty. It’s not fair for you to hold it against me.”

“I know. But I can’t exactly forget it now, can I. God, I’m such an idiot!” Kitty seethed. “Why did I ask?”

John shrugged. Kitty turned away from him again, her arms folded.

“Did you love her?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, hell no! We just… it just happened.” He grabbed Kitty’s arms and forced her to look at him “You’re the only person I’ve ever loved, Kitty. And even if we can’t ever be together, because of that stupid mistake I made, I’ll still love you.”

Kitty finally cracked. She burst into tears and wailed into John’s chest as he held her firmly. He shook his head, seething with anger at himself for being so tactless. He distractedly ran his hand down Kitty’s hair, trying to soothe her.

After a few minutes she’d cried herself out, but she still clung to John, hiccuping rather pathetically.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he whispered.

“I don’t want to lose you either.” Kitty choked out.

They both startled when there came a loud knock at the door, and Hank McCoy peered in a moment later.

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” he said gently. “Kitty, we must leave shortly. Are you ready to go?”

Kitty rubbed her face and nodded.

“Well, you should probably come to the landing platform now”

“All right” she said stiffly.

Hank stood in the doorway looking awkward for a moment. He forced a smile at John.

“St John, you take care of yourself. I’ll see you again soon.”

John nodded.

“I’ll give you two a moment alone” he said, pulling the door closed.

Kitty sighed as John picked up her bags.

“C’mon, I’ll carry your stuff.” He told her.

“John, no. No airport goodbyes, remember?” Kitty told him. John frowned and set the bags down again. Kitty reached up and stroked his face.

“I love you, too. I didn’t get to say that when you told me earlier.”

“I know you do, Kitten” he said quietly. “I wish this visit could’ve been considerably less dramatic,” he said bitterly.

Kitty smiled sadly “Definitely. But, I’ll take what I can get, as long as it’s with you”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her very deeply for a moment, then released her.

“Go” he whispered.

Kitty slung her tote onto her shoulder, and then grabbed her knapsack. She reached up for one last lingering kiss and then left.

John slumped onto the sofa with a sigh, leaning forwards to rest his elbows on his knees so he could cradle his head in his hands. He startled when the door opened again. It was Kitty, looking flushed. She raced forwards and pressed a square of paper into his hands.

“Read this later, okay?” she said, and just as quickly she had left again.

John looked at the folded piece of paper and smiled slightly.