Love's Past Turmoil

Mana gently pushed her little brother away, looking him over, sensing something was seriously wrong here.

"What...? Pyro, what's going on?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

John heard that voice in his head say, ~See. Now, you have to tell the one person you love so much how you betrayed all those close to you.~

Fresh tears appeared in his eyes as he looked away. "I'm so sorry, Mana." he whispered.

"Sorry for what?" she asked. "And what are you doing out here? Why was Sabretooth trying to kill you? Why did he call you a traitor?"

Pyro let out a deeply emotional sigh. ~She had heard that. Oh no.~

"I live here." he said.

"What? Which house?" she asked, looking around at the only two homes nearby set several metres apart from each other.

"No. I live here." John corrected her, motioning to the street.

The pyrokinetic mutant frowned. "You mean you live on the streets?" she asked, incredulously.

Pyro nodded.

A single tear trickled down Mana's cheek. "For how long?"

"Just over a week." he answered, stepping back.

She stared at him, her own thoughts reeling around in her head. ~My Pyro has been living on the streets.~ She wiped at the tear, setting her face determinedly. "Well then, you are coming back to the hotel with me. You can join me on the road. I am not leaving you here on the streets." she practically ordered.

~She says that now but what is she gonna say when she finds out where you have been the past five years?~ Pyro's inner voice asked.

"All right, Mana." he said. "But you may not be so welcoming after I tell you why Creed was after me."

"We'll see." Mana said. "Let's go. You can have a shower and I'll put your clothes through the machine and dryer so you have something clean to put on, then we can go grab something decent to eat. I only assume you haven't been eating well?"

"You have no idea." Pyro answered.

**

The smell of soap and hot water drifted to Mana's nose as she played with Pyro's Zippo lighter, his clothes already washed and spinning around in one of the two dryers in the hotel's laundry. Mana had everything she needed in the back of her dark purple Commodore Station Wagon. Having been on the road as long as she had one got accustomed to living out of the back of a car.

When the door to the bathroom slid open and Pyro stepped out, a towel wrapped around his waist, the hesitant look in his eyes when he saw her palpable, Mana had to stop herself from gasping. The last time she had seen him he was a typical nine-year-old kid. Now he was clearly a man. And a handsome one at that!

She glanced over his muscular physique trying to calculate in her head exactly how old he was now. ~21. Um, no, 22. Goodness, girl, he's right there! Ask him.~

"You're 22 now, right, John?" she asked.

Moving to sit opposite the chair she was in, on the side of the bed, he nodded. "And that makes you 27?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Whoa! It has been a long time!" she said, smiling at him. "Your clothes should be dry in around ten minutes."

"Good." St John answered, staring past her out the window.

"So, you had something to tell me?" Mana urged, gently.

Pyro's eyes passed over her hesitantly. "I... I really don't know where to start and I'm afraid your view of me is going to change." he started.

Mana studied him closely. ~For him to say that, especially considering he knows how much I Love him, it must be bad.~ she thought.

"If you want, I can have a look?" she said, motioning to his temple.

Pyro shook his head. "No. It is only right that I tell you myself."

"All right, then shoot." she said, settling back in the couch.

Pyro stared at her. "Sabretooth was after me because five or so years ago I left the place of residents the system placed me in after leaving your mother's to go work for Magneto." He stopped, waiting for his older sister's inevitable reaction.

At first there was nothing from her. Then Pyro saw her eyes turn an incredible light purple tinged with black.

"You worked for Magneto?" she said, her voice barely audible, her tone full of malice.

"Yes." Pyro felt the tears start to fall again. "I'm sorry, Mana. I don't know why I went with him. I knew he had a past with you but that still didn't deter me. I just, I mean I thought the X-Men were a bunch of losers cos they wouldn't do to the humans what they truly deserved. I thought Magneto's cause was one worth fighting for." His heart sank as she got up out of her seat, walking over to the window, her back to him. "Please, Mana!" he begged. "I finally realised what a truly vindictive, evil warlord Magneto was. That's how I came to be on the streets. That's why Creed is trying to kill me. I know where the base is hidden. I know too much."

Pyro put his head in his hands. He knew there was no way he would ever get forgiveness from those people whose family members he helped destroy, and there was no point to anything if his best friend in the whole world could not forgive him.

Mana turned to look at him, her heart contracting with a mixture of anger and sadness. How could he, of all people, think Magneto was right in any way? How could he go off and fight for him when he knew what he had done to her in the past?

She wanted to stab something at that moment, and for an instant, just a slight instant, she wanted it to be him, but then the memories flooded her mind as she opened their telempathic link and saw firsthand everything that had happened to Pyro since her departure.

Her heart went out to him as the anger was drawn up into her mind. She couldn't stay angry at the one person in her life who truly meant the world to her. She loved Pyro no matter what.

Walking over to place her hand on one of his wrists, she knelt down in front of him as he looked at her. "I can't for the life of me understand how you could ever think Magneto's cause is the right one. His way of doing things is not the way to resolve the issue between humans and mutants. If anything he only makes the matters worse."

"I know that." he whispered. "I've always known that." His hand tightened around hers.

"Good. Because if you ever, ever return to the Brotherhood our relationship is over!" she said, softly, in a tone that brooked no argument.

Before he could respond, Mana continued, "I love you, Pyro. I will always love you. What you have done in the past is just that, in the past. The choices you make now are all that matter to me." She gripped his other hand bringing both of them together between them.

"We all need to move on. You need to forgive yourself. You need to accept that a new beginning is upon you."

"I can't." he whispered. "Not if you can't forgive me first."

Mana looked him directly in the eyes and he could feel her purple energy flow into him. "I do forgive you, Pyro. I could never hold anything against my little brother no matter how bad it may be."

The sincereness in her voice made Pyro's heart soar with happiness.

Mana's face suddenly broke out in a huge grin. "I have seen everything in here, John." she told him, putting a finger to her temple. "That new beginning now starts with me going to retrieve your clothes from the dryer and then both of us seeing the hotel manager to see if we can get another room with two beds. Then we have a yummy meal to go out and enjoy, which is where I want you to tell me more about these X-Men you mentioned."

Pyro smiled. "Let's do it." he said, standing up as she did.

He watched her head to the door, his emotions settling. She was, and always had been, his sounding board, the one tried and true thing in his life. When she had gotten in the car that day after only just returning from Stryker's clutches, his whole demeanour had fallen apart. He'd wanted to chase that car until his legs dropped off but Mana's mother had held him close, stopping him. Just over two weeks later he arrived at the Institute.
He had never forgotten her. Had never for one moment erased her from his mind just because she wasn't around.

"Mana?" he called.

She stopped, turning.

He swiftly walked over, throwing his arms around her.

"I am so glad you are back in my life." he whispered. "Thank you, Mana."