Love's Past Turmoil

A/N PLEASE READ AnD REVIEW!!

Pyro knew it would not take long for Sabretooth to pick up on his trail so he kept moving, abandoning the alcove he had rather liked as a temporary home this past week, dodging those on the street and crossing over to the bus stop he knew was there on account of his past explorations of the city.

Pulling out what little change he had managed to 'acquire' he thrust it into the bus driver's hand and moved to the back of the bus.

Glancing out the back window he briefly saw Sabretooth's angry form appear between two cars before the bus rounded a corner.

~Man!~ he thought. ~He'll find me wherever I go. Him and his nose anyway.~

Staring at the shark teeth painted so it looked as if they parted whenever he flicked the lid off his lighter he failed to notice the bus had stopped briefly until the sound of breaking glass and plastic echoed through the long vehicle.

"John!" Victor hissed, landing easily in the isle.

Pyro's eyes widened, his mouth falling open, as he looked around frantically, trying to ignore the fearful cries from the other passengers.

"Come here, boy!" the big cat ordered, lunging for the seemingly helpless teenager.

With a quick glance at the weapon in his hand, a small smile spread across his face.

"Get down!" he ordered the only two passengers between him and the advancing Sabretooth.

Once they had ducked down under the seats, Pyro drew back the ignited flame, pushing it towards the man he now had no trouble calling his enemy.

Sabretooth leaped backwards, his claws raking a young man nearby, before glaring at the young mutant again.

Smiling, Pyro turned, bringing his legs up to push out the Emergency Exit window beside him, holding the flame in front of him along the width of the bus the whole time

**

How long did it take for one to see the road as a big blur if they had been travelling long enough on it?

The 27-year-old mutant known as Ramana Cavanagh, affectionately called Mana by all those close to her, really had no idea but the way she felt at the moment, even with her regenerative abilities, she knew it mustn't be long.

Her eyes were starting to droop. She was now beginning to question the choice she had made to cross the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, especially considering she had been very tired beforehand.

"Stay awake, girl!" she hissed, turning up Nickelback's album so it was blaring out of the speakers. "Mm, nice." she whispered, smiling.

With the cars moving a little faster now she didn't have time to focus on her tiredness, her mind now concentrating on keeping an eye on the stupid drivers around her.

Relief flooded through her entire body when she finally pulled up in the car park of the hotel she planned to stay in overnight.

Travelling had been a part of Mana's life for the past eight or so years. After leaving her home, Mana had fallen into what some would describe as a deep depression, deeply heartbroken that she had to stay away from her mother and foster brother, knowing it was the only way to keep them safe. Her final decision to leave had broken her mother and foster brother’s heart but they knew it was something she would do with or without their approval; they knew she would do anything to keep them safe.

Ramana had cut off all telempathic links, the result of the connection she made to those she healed, being sure to contact her Mom via a public phone once every two weeks.
The first time she had done this she had learnt her foster brother had been placed in a more stable home, and Mana’s heart broke even more.

Now, as she crawled into bed, not even bothering to change, her mind turned to this decision as it always did just before she went to sleep, and she wondered where St. John was now; would, better yet, could she ever see him again?

***

The jump from the bus window had only caused minor pain to John's hand as he used it to steady himself in landing. He was up and running before he realised his hand was even aching. He heard the sound of smashing glass behind him again; only assuming Sabretooth was now in hot pursuit.

~Mall.~ Pyro decided, turning to the right at the next intersection.

The cars in the undercover car park gave John a sense of relief as he ran between a 4WD and a Porsche in the direction of one of the entry/exits.

Mingling into the shopping centre crowd Pyro kept moving. It would be near impossible for Victor to track him amongst all these people.

Pyro stopped briefly in the hallway leading down to the toilets and a fire exit, the eerie quietness of the area causing him to shiver. Flicking the lid of his lighter on and off he tried to think.

~Exit here or go back into the crowd?~ he glanced at his watch.

5:45pm. The mall would be closing soon. He did not like the idea of being trapped in a locked down store with an angry cat on the loose!

He ran up to the door, pushing it open easily, stopping to inspect the outside surroundings. Car park to his right. More fire exits to his left. The side of another part of the mall in front of him. He moved to his right, realising the car park led out onto a part of the city he had never been to.

~Great!~ he thought. ~Now I have to be extra cautious.~

He registered the hand grabbing him from behind too late, only seconds after he moved across the road opposite the car park. He was pulled backwards and thrown through the air.

~This guy just never gives up.~ he thought, landing hard on his side, the air escaping from his mouth in a short rasp.

"Why do you continue to resist, Pyro? You have been with the Brotherhood long enough to know that I can track anyone at anytime through anything!" Sabretooth insisted.

"Yeah. Well, I never saw it." John replied, slowly pulling himself to his feet and igniting his lighter once again.

"That thing is surely running out of lighter fluid by now. What are you going to do when it fails you?" Victor asked, grinning wickedly.

Pyro glanced at the lighter. He hadn't thought of that.

**

Mana's eyes flew open as she sat bolt upright in her hotel bed. Something had woken her. Something from her past. The dream she had been having... What had it been about?

Shaking off the heaviness of sleep she looked at the bedside clock. Just after 6pm. She'd been asleep for just under four hours.

Climbing out of the bed to glance out the window, she felt it again. The feeling was so familiar to her she had to clutch the windowsill to stop from falling backwards from the dizzy spell.

"What in the world is going on?" she whispered. "I know what this is. I know who I was dreaming about. Why do dreams have to be so elusive once you wake up?"

Once the dizzy spell had passed she turned her eyes to the outside world, trying to focus on the familiarity she could sense flowing through her. Her gaze suddenly shifted, seemingly staring beyond the trees along one side of the hotel.

Quickly grabbing only her wallet, she ran out the door, drawn to something beyond those trees.

**

The sight she saw as she stopped in the protection of a nearby vehicle made her insides churn with hatred.

~Sabretooth.~ she thought, staring at the menacing figure beyond the other young mutant's back. ~And who is he?~ she wondered, her head suddenly reeling with another dizzy spell.

She watched through half glazed eyes as the unknown mutant drew back the flame from what she now realised was a lighter in his hand and pushed it towards Magneto's henchman.

Mana frowned. "That is... I've seen that before somewhere."

She saw Victor dive sideways, using the momentum to right himself and jump towards the stranger.

"Give it up, Pyro!" Sabretooth yelled, as he changed direction in mid-air to avoid being toasted.

"Never!"

If Mana hadn't had better control of her emotions she would have freaked at the sudden, climatic headache that hit her at that moment.

~Pyro!~ she cried, in her mind. ~My Pyro!~

Her eyes began to glow as the headache suddenly disappeared, replaced with the telempathic link that had opened up when Mana had healed John so many years ago. Back when he had been her little foster brother. Back when they'd had a friendship, a bond she held with no one else other than her mother.

She felt a growl start low in her chest, deciding in that moment that revealing herself and attacking Victor physically would not be a good idea.

With his Zippo lighter now starting to run out the fear was finally creeping back up into Pyro's heart. Once he lost his element he had no hope of stopping Creed from killing him.

~I'm not going to go down without a fight though. If I have to die I am gonna die kicking and screaming.~ he thought, noticing the flame surrounding Victor peter out as he lost concentration.

Sabretooth began to laugh. "It's over, John." he said. "You are tiring. Once that happens you lose your concentration easily."

John grimaced at the sound of Victor running his nails across the side of the vehicle he walked past.

"Time to die, little traitor."

"No!" John cried, igniting his lighter again.

When nothing happened he nearly lost it, hot tears playing at the corners of his eyes.

Even as Sabretooth continued to advance, a triumphant grin plastered all over his face, Pyro tried to get one last flame out of the lighter.

~Come on, baby.~ he willed. ~Just one more. Come on!~

Unbeknown to him someone heard his desperate plea. And that someone ignited the lighter with her mind, letting the young teenager think he had gotten his wish.

Only after he sent the flame in Victor's direction did she concentrate on the ground beneath the mutant cat.

Pyro's eyes widened as he not only saw, but also felt, the flames rise from the ground and join with his, moving in on Sabretooth from all directions.

Victor grimaced at the heat; looking around, fear finally coursing through every part of his body. His eyes widened at the sudden realisation that a gap was appearing in the flame wall behind him. Diving through it, landing only briefly before jumping half way down the footpath, he disappeared around the corner.

"Now, that was cool." Pyro thought. "But I know I was not controlling all of that fire."

"No, you weren't." the female voice said behind him.

Pyro turned slowly, recognising not only the owner of that voice, but the familiar connection he had to her in his mind.

There she stood, in dark blue, three quarter length pants, broken by the purple and white pin stripes down the outside of each leg, a dark purple, long sleeved 'Burning Spears' T-Shirt, and bare feet.

"Mana?" Pyro asked, in disbelief.

A smile broke her face and there was no mistaking the purple glow in her eyes as she walked towards him.

Pyro stared. ~Man! She has grown!~ he thought.

"How you doing, FM?" she asked.

FM stood for Flame Manipulator, a nickname no one else but her had ever called him.

"I'm doing fine. Now." he answered.

Mana looked into her little brother's eyes. It did not matter that they were not related in any way. He would always be her little brother.

Pyro had only ever fully trusted one person in his life, and could not believe that one person was now standing before him again after all this time. So, when the tears started to fall he made no attempt to hide them as she reached over to pull him into her arms.

"Do you realise you just saved my life again?" he asked.

She didn't answer him. She didn't need too. The question was rhetorical.