Burning Brightly

Author's Note:

Here we have come, at long last, to the end of John’s story. For me, it’s been a unique experience to walk around in his skin for so long.

Will Martha live or die? What will happen to them now? Read on and see.

Warnings: A few naughty words.

As always, please Rate and Review. Constructive criticism is always welcome and I’d really like to know what you think. Thank you for reading.

Chapter Twelve: Second Chances

“Oh my God!” The familiar voice brought a little trickle of relief to me. Even after all this time. “Over here! We need some help!”

It was Miss Munroe and I swear I will never bitch about her take charge attitude again.

“Hang on Martha. Please baby. Hang on.” She was looking at me, trying to speak I think, but nothing was coming out. Her eyes kept growing brighter and dimmer and she looked pale. Blood was seeping out around the iron.

“They’re getting away!” It was Logan sounding impatient as he vaulted over the fence into our backyard.

I heard another gasp as someone came out the back door. I looked up to find Rogue and Bobby staring at us.

“John! But you’re dead!” Rogue blurted out, looking shocked. I think Bobby looked guilty, but I was really to busy to do more than glance at them.

“John?” It was Miss Munroe’s firm hand that pulled me backwards and around to meet her gaze.

“Yes! It’s me. I’m alive. But if you don’t help her, she won’t be much longer!” I pushed her away and knelt down beside Martha. I reached out to touch the iron bar cautiously.

“Don’t do that. She’ll bleed out.” Logan was at my elbow now and he brushed me aside. He studied the chair for a moment, then his claws slid out. Martha whimpered.

“It’s O.K., baby. It’s O.K.” I knew I was babbling and I barely registered the orders that Miss Munroe was tossing around.

Logan carefully sliced through iron and it parted like cobwebs. He carefully trimmed off the rod that pierced her before Peter lifted her from the chair. Then we were being rushed to the waiting jet where it had been parked in the middle of our cul de sac.

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu as I fumbled with my safety harness. I was trying to watch Peter strapping Martha in next to me and I just couldn’t seem to get mine to buckle.

“Here.” Then Bobby was there brushing my hands away and tightening it for me. I looked at him for a moment, but I couldn’t read his expression. Then he sat down and buckled himself in. Miss Munroe took the controls.

Bobby and Rogue sat across the aisle from us and Logan took the co-pilots seat. Martha seemed barely conscious as the jet lifted into the air. My stomach churned. God I hate flying.

“John…Who is she?” Kitty twisted around in the seat in front of me to whisper.

“Martha.” I looked around and saw everyone but Logan and Miss Munroe were staring. “She’s my wife.”

“How’s she doing?” Logan called back before anyone could ask anything else.

“Martha? Baby are you with me?” I touched her hand and it felt cold. Her eyes were open but she didn’t seem aware of me. “Martha?”

“Not good.” I turned back to Logan.

“We’re almost there.” Miss Munroe called over her shoulder then flipped on the radio and began talking rapidly to someone on the other end. I closed my eyes and clutched at the arms of my seat as the jet suddenly changed directions to land on top of the hospital.

Then it was a rush of doctors and nurses and questions I couldn’t really answer. I didn’t even know whether I should tell them her real age or the one on her I.D. In the end I stuck with our new identities because I was afraid they wouldn’t let me see her otherwise.

She was unconscious by the time the doctor examined her and she was rushed into surgery even before I even finished trying to answer their questions. Miss Munroe and Logan left promising to come back soon, leaving Bobby and Rogue to stay with me.

I wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be there as my friends or as my guards. Once the doctors and nurses quit asking me questions there was nothing to do but wait. We didn’t talk much, just mindlessly watched soap operas and waited for some kind of news.

“Is she really your wife?” Rogue was the first to break the silence, speaking low and reaching a gloved hand to touch my arm.

“We’ve been living together ever since…you know.” I toyed with the wedding band on my finger.

“She was part of the Brotherhood.” Bobby’s voice was carefully neutral. I guess he recognized her.

“I never thought I’d see you...well…married.” She continued.

“Why did Magneto attack her?” Bobby leaned closer, speaking quietly.

“He wanted me back and I said no. He blames her.” I glanced up as a doctor came into the waiting room, but he was looking for someone else. “And he was pissed that we’ve been living on money that used to belong to the Brotherhood.”

I wanted to ask him why he hadn’t told them I was alive. But, he obviously hadn’t told Rogue.

“You did take the Cure, didn’t you?” God. I don’t know how many times I dreamed that I had killed her at that clinic. Seeing her here alive was surreal. Maybe now the nightmares would stop. If I could just believe that she was real.

“Yeah. And it worked. For a while.” She tugged at her gloves, smoothing them carefully. Somewhere they had changed out of their uniforms and I’d been so out of it I hadn’t noticed. “They tell me I could try taking another dose, but it probably would wear off too.”

“We won’t let them use Jimmy that way again.” Bobby’s voice was hard and angry. “Were you really going to let them kill him?”

“I don’t think we could have stopped him.” I rubbed my face with my hands not wanting to think about that. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad he failed.”

“Are you?” I looked at Bobby and his blue eyes seemed like ice. I was reminded of seeing him that night. The Iceman.

“Yeah. I am. Magneto is fucking crazy. By the time I figured that out, I was in too deep to get out, all right?”

“You didn’t look too unhappy when you were throwing flaming cars at us.” He wasn’t going to let it drop that easily. “Or when you tried to kill me.”

“Bobby. Fuck. I don’t know what to say. I can’t go back and undo the shit I did. You weren’t there at the Camp. You just don’t know. Magneto would have killed us. Or had Jean do it.”

“Us?” We were interrupted by a new voice, one I knew from the newscasts we had watched. Someone I knew of when I was at Xavier’s but had never met. Someone I had seen fight that night like some blue furred fiend from hell.

“Dr. McCoy!” Bobby spoke first.

“Good afternoon, Bobby. Rogue. John.” He nodded to each of us. I could see now that we were alone in the waiting room except for two men in dark suits standing near the door. “Would the two of you mind leaving us alone for a moment?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Bobby rose and took Rogue’s hand. “We’ll go find that snack bar. Should we get anything for John?” He wasn’t asking me, he was asking Dr. McCoy. Probably his way of asking if I was being arrested.

“By all means. I just spoke to a nurse and I expect John will have a long wait.” He watched them leave and waved the two suits off. They moved to stand outside the door.

“Now, young man. You and I shall have a chat.” I sat watching nervously as he fitted his bulk into a chair across from me. I really wanted my lighter, but it was gone thanks to Magneto.

“Couldn’t this wait until my wife is out of surgery? This isn’t really a good time.”

“Your wife? Hmm…” He sat a briefcase on the chair beside him and opened it, taking out a folder. “Strange how your wife resembles this young woman.”

He lifted a picture from the folder and turned it towards me. It looked like a yearbook photo blown up big. He returned it to the folder and showed me several more. They were all pictures of Martha. Some showed her wearing a suit in an office and one showed her standing close to Magneto and myself at some speech Magneto had given.

“I guess maybe it does look like her. But the hair is different.”

“Tell me son. Is that young woman in there, the one you claim is your wife…Is she the mutant known as Mesmer?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” God, I wish I had my lighter. Or that I could leave. But, I couldn’t do that. Not without her.

“You are John Allerdyce, known as Pyro.” It wasn’t a question. “You were one of Magneto’s lieutenants in the Brotherhood.” He pulled out a couple more photos showing me with Magneto. I don’t know where they all came from.

“That’s all over.”

“Magneto appears to disagree.” He leaned forward a little and looked at me sternly. “Now, I ask you again. Is Martha Kent the mutant known as Mesmer?”

“She’s my wife. Or at least she is until she wakes up and tells me differently.” Without my lighter, my fingers kept searching for something to fiddle with. Now they had settled on my ring and his eyes fell on it.

“I see.” He closed the folder and returned to the briefcase and pulled out a sheaf of paper. “Perhaps you misunderstand my interest.” He shifted in his seat and shuffled through the papers. He reached into his suit pocket for a pair of reading glasses.

“You want to lock us up.” What was there to misunderstand?

“I have here a copy of the statement given by one Raven Darkholme. You may have known her as Mystique.” He looked at me as if waiting for me to answer. I just crossed my arms and looked at the clock over his shoulder. How much longer would the surgery take? “Her statement was quite thorough. Among many other questionable activities, she describes the recruitment and indoctrination of two young mutants of interest.”

“Why don’t you just cut the crap and say what you want? My wife is in there and I don’t know whether she’s going to live or die and you’re fucking beating around the bush!”

“To speak plainly, Mystique abducted the young lady in the guise of a police officer after inciting a mob to attack her. She then posed as a rescuer and proceeded to manipulate the young lady into using her gifts to further the Brotherhood’s cause. That included fostering her infatuation with another young mutant.”

“Yeah?” That sounded more like the Mystique I knew than Martha’s version.

“Yes. I assume that Magneto continued with this plan after Mystique’s capture?” He looked at me for a response but I did my best not to give it.

“She also explains how they recruited a young mutant known as Pyro. How he was carefully indoctrinated in their cause and was prevented from having meaningful contact outside the Brotherhood.”

I opened my mouth prepared to deny it. Then shut it because that would be admitting too much.

“Pyro was led to believe that his guardians made no attempt to recover him. In fact, Magneto used technology similar to that of his helmet to shield his base of operations. Otherwise the Professor would have ferreted out his location before he was able to assemble his army.”

And suddenly, a lot of things made sense. Little things. Like why Martha and I had been kept first in the warehouse base, then at the camp. Why I hadn’t been sent out on my own until after Xavier had been killed. Why Magneto and Mystique had spent so much effort on stroking my ego. I could see now that it had been manipulation, not respect.

“How did they find us today?”

“They didn’t find you. The Professor was tracking Callisto’s signature. When they stopped moving, the XMen were dispatched to that location.”

“Wait a minute. I thought the Professor was dead.”

“That is a long story, best told by the Professor himself. He is alive through a uniquely fortuitous use of his powers. And in fact, it was the Professor who has asked me to offer my assistance.”

“Your assistance?”

“Yes. I believe with this report I can make an adequate case that Pyro and Mesmer were simply naïve children manipulated by Magneto and Mystique. As I said, Mystique was quite thorough. If the two of you will cooperate and offer whatever information you may have, I am prepared to offer you immunity to prosecution.”

“Are you serious?”

“Quite serious.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know. But, I don’t think it’s much.”

“It is hoped that the young lady will be able to tell us more.”

“I hope so, too.”

That’s when Bobby and Rogue came back with burgers and fries. I didn’t even realize I was hungry until I smelled it. Then I started eating. Dr. McCoy pulled out a recording device and turned it on. Then, I started talking.

I told them everything I knew and everything I did. Names, locations, dates when I could remember them, and powers. I even told them about the mutants I was pretty sure were dead. Dr. McCoy nodded and sometimes asked questions. Rogue and Bobby were silent, but their eyes got bigger and bigger.

I even told them about how Magneto had encouraged me, no ordered me, to get close to Martha. Dr. McCoy asked me if I thought Martha had used her powers to influence me. And I said no, but that Magneto seemed to think she had. Then he asked again if I was sure, because Mystique had had every intention of having her do just that.

“No. I’m sure. Absolutely sure.” It must have come out harsher than I intended.

“Relax, son. I am merely trying to be thorough.” He turned off the recorder and looked at me again. “It just seems a bit odd that both of you have decided to ignore your orders and pursue this relationship.”

Before I could come up with a response, the doctor arrived. The suits let him through with no problem and he approached me with a smile.

“The surgery went very well. There was some damage to her liver and quite a bit of blood loss but she should recover completely.”

“When can I see her?” I stood up.

“As soon as they move her to her room. We’ll send someone to let you know.”

Dr. McCoy asked me a few more questions after that, then he left, along with the suits. He said he would be back to talk to Martha when she was well enough. Bobby and Rogue stayed with me.

Bobby busied himself cleaning up the burger wrappers and stuff. He was quiet and I thought he was thinking hard about everything he’d just heard. Rogue moved to sit beside me and surprised me by taking my hand. Even through the glove I could feel how warm and alive she was. I squeezed her hand, just needing to prove to myself she was real.

“You know, you can’t go back to that house.” Her voice was soft. “Magneto might come back. Or maybe Mystique.”

“I don’t know where we’ll go. Nowhere until she’s better, anyway.” I suddenly remembered the damn dog. “Shit. I forgot about Clark.”

“The dog?” Bobby sat down on my other side, looking like he’d made some kind of decision. He was like that, stewing over things quietly until he made up his mind. “I called Kitty while we were at the snack bar. She and Peter went back and got the dog. He’s probably getting spoiled rotten by the kids at school right about now.”

“Good.” Martha would have been upset if something happened to him. So would I.

“I also talked to the Professor.” Bobby paused looking at Rogue. “He wants you to come home, John.”

“After everything that’s happened? I killed people, Bobby. I’ve done shit that gives me nightmares. God. I even thought I…” I looked at Rogue again. “I thought I might have actually killed Rogue in that clinic.”

“The Professor believes in giving people second chances.” I met Bobby’s eyes. That was the decision he’d made. Whether he was going to give me one, too.

“And I hope you will give us a second chance.” I turned at the familiar voice to see the Professor walking through the waiting room door. Walking?

He looked a little different than I remembered, but the sad little smile he gave me was the same one I’d seen a hundred times. Usually after I’d done something incredibly stupid.

“It didn’t exactly go so well the first time.” I’d never really even considered going back as a possibility. Usually when I burn a bridge, it stays burned.

“I think we can do better. All of us. When we lost Jean, we also lost some of our focus. Things slipped between the cracks. And we lost you.”

“I kinda thought you were glad to be rid of me.” I started to pull my hand away from Rogue’s, but she held on.

“Nothing could be further from the truth, John. Of all the students at my school, you were one of the ones who needed us most. That we failed to give you what you needed was more our failure than yours. And I’m sorry to say, that by the time we realized where we had gone wrong, Magneto had spirited you out of reach.”

“Are you saying it wasn’t my fault?”

“You have made some poor choices, John. Ones I believe you are coming to regret. Those choices are your responsibility. However, that you were placed in a position to make those choices at all is partly our fault and certainly Magneto’s.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you are welcome to come home as long as you are willing to put forth the effort necessary to learn how to make better choices.”

“What about Martha?”

“She is welcome as well. On the same terms.”

“I have to talk to her first.”

“That would be a good choice.” He nodded at me and smiled a little in approval. And that felt good.


When Martha finally woke up, I was there at her bedside. Xavier or someone had pulled strings and got her a private room. Rogue was napping on the couch and Bobby was flipping through a magazine. Martha blinked a few times, her eyes flashing silver as she took in their presence.

“Hey baby.” I squeezed her hand carefully, trying not to bump the I.V.

“John? What?” She seemed a little confused. Maybe it was the painkillers.

“Do you remember what happened? With Magneto and Callisto?”

“Some. Yes. I thought he was going to kill me.” The silver pulsed in time with her heartbeat. I’d never seen that before.

“He tried. But, you’re going to be O.K.” I heard movement from across the room. Rogue was sitting up and Bobby put down his magazine.

“He…The Cure didn’t work. God. He was so angry. If I’d known…” She looked scared.

“We’re safe here. Bobby and Rogue won’t leave us.” She looked at them again. “Later, someone’s going to ask you a bunch of questions about the Brotherhood and everything. I made a deal for us. No jail as long as we tell them what we know.”

“We…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the rendezvous. There just didn’t seem to be any point. Everyone was dead…or…or Cured.”

“It’s all right. You did the right thing.” She looked again at Bobby and Rogue then back at me. Her eyes were still pulsing.

“John? Did Magneto really tell you to…to get close to me?” Her voice dropped lower and I could see the glitter of tears in her eyes. “Is that why you...”

I felt sick as I watched her fumble with the question. What could I tell her?

“Shh…Baby. Just listen to me. I should have told you a long time ago.” I stroked her hand, trying to soothe her. “Yeah. He did. It’s true. And I’m so sorry.” I watched her swallow hard. I knew she didn’t want to cry in front of strangers.

“Oh god…” She turned her head away from me and the others.

“Please don’t cry. That was only at first. I really should have told you before. But, I’ve never been good at doing what I should do.” I sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to touch her face.

“Look at me, baby. Please.” She turned back toward me. “I love you.”

“John…I…”

“I know I should have said it before. I’m sorry about that, too.”

“I love you, too.” It came out as a whisper and her eyes pulsed silver again.

“I know baby.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t go back. If Callisto’s alive, there’s no place to hide.”

“Well, there’s this…”

So I told her about the Professor and his offer. Told her what the school was like. Then Bobby and Rogue jumped in and she never had a chance to say no. That was fine with me. I’d almost lost her once already. The school might not be safe, but it was the safest place I could think of for us.

I thought they would hate me after all I’d done. And yeah, some of them were still angry, but they got over it real fast. Maybe it helped that that kid Jimmy took a shine to Clark. You know, the kid that started all this fuss with the “Cure?” That Jimmy. If Jimmy didn’t have a problem with us, then nobody else should. At least that’s what Kitty kept saying.

Once Bobby made up his mind that was it. We were friends again. He never threw things my face. And maybe it helped that I wasn’t the third wheel anymore. I never realized just how much that had bothered me. Or how much of my acting like a dick was just jealousy.

I had no reason to be jealous now. I had my friends, I had my powers, and I had my wife. The Professor accepted our “marriage” without a fuss and we dropped the Kent identities. But, we kept the rings. Next month, when Martha turns eighteen we’ll go ahead and make it all legal.

No. I wasn’t like Bobby and I never would be. But, being John wasn’t quite so bad anymore.