~ 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚 ~
The training room was loud with the sounds of teenage mutants practicing and cheering each other on in the ring. Somewhere else, however, tucked into a little corner at the up-most part of the bleachers sat a girl, reading her book and drowning out the sound of her peers.
Amara sighed, leaning her head against the small post jutting out from the wall. Her focus was set on the riveting tale she always read when she was in a confused or upset mood (or when she was trying to distract herself from It, like she was now).
She flipped the page, letting her eyes dance across the words of the early eighteen hundreds as if she were reading it for the first time. Jane Austin's words truly were a comfort to her - they were one of the few escapes she could bring with her outside her room and keep close.
When the doors to the training room opened, Amara's eyes flitted up, only to be met with the grinning figure of Peter as he hobbled down the hall on his crutches. She bit her lip, not even registering he was with Kurt and Scott because Peter ran his hand through his hair and laughed at something the boys said.
Unknowingly, a dreamy sigh escaped her. His shirt was a little tight on his frame and his jeans fit him nicely, and she found it odd that she didn't mind the faint sparkle the pants had on them. It suited him nicely.
Amara had to force herself to stop staring. She moved her eyes back to the words and tried her best to melt into the wall and make herself as unnoticeable as possible without her powers. She had no desire to hear anything It had to say.
It had been much more active lately - much more aggressive, much more needy, and every time she thought about Peter, it was like It got overly excited. Amara was still trying to figure out why. Hopefully she'd be able to figure it out soon, though, before It got out of control.
The sound of Peter's crutches getting closer made Amara's heart skip a beat. She kept her eyes on the book. Hopefully, he just wanted a different angle of the matches going on down below, and talk to everyone else down there.
But his steps were only getting louder, and she caved in on herself just a little more. No, he didn't want to talk to her. Please don't want to talk to her, please don't want to talk to her-
Peter cleared his throat. "Hey."
Internally, she let out a long, deep sigh. But when she glanced up at him, his smile was gentle and his head cocked to one side, making her nerves creep up.
He was cute. Seriously cute.
But she was nervous about even thinking stuff like that. The last relationship she had was a total disaster, and almost ended with her murdering the boy without much control over It. What if the next went the same?
"Mind if I sit?" he asked.
Amara gulped and nodded slowly.
She glued her eyes back to the pages of her book, hoping that would be all the conversation he wanted. She was wrong. He slid down the bench to sit almost completely next to her before resting his legs on the bench beneath them, then relaxed his posture against the wall behind them. She turned the page.
The small glimpse of the Pink Floyd shirt he was wearing (mixed with the Rush one he wore those few days ago) told her that this boy had a similar music taste to hers, and she grew that much more anxious.
She was liking him more and more.
"What are you reading?"
She looked up at the sound of Peter's voice, and cleared her throat when she saw he was looking at her.
Her eyes widened when she realized his question.
"O-Oh, um... it, um..." She cleared her throat and showed him the cover. "It's just Pride and Prejudice."
"Really?" he asked, a cute frown on his face as he looked at the design. "How can you even read that, isn't the English all messed up?"
She shrugged. "Not really. It's just a bit more... proper, I guess."
Peter nodded, and she looked back down at the bench, nervously playing with her rings. This was the first time she had ever really spoken to him, and something was telling her she was making a big fool of herself.
Of course, the cute boy and the awkward, nobody girl. According to all of the books she read, this would turn out great. According to her anxiety, past trauma, and unlimited self-doubt and mistrust, it would be anything but.
"Is it any good?" Peter asked.
She pondered the question, sitting up a little more as she thought over the contents of the story.
"If... if you're into romances, it's good," was the conclusion she came up with.
He nodded. "Do you like romances?"
"I... um... yeah." The pages fanned her gently as she quickly flipped through them. "This... this is my favorite book."
His eyebrows raised in interest. "Is it?"
She hummed and smiled softly. Indeed it was.
Something about the story intrigued her like nothing she had ever read. It was almost poetic, the way the characters interacted between such contrasting emotions at any given moment, piquing her interest at every turn.
"I've read it... probably more times than I can count." She laughed breathlessly with a small shrug, but then realized how awfully pathetic that must have made her sound. Who reads the same book over and over again? "But I dunno. It's kind of weird, now that I think about it."
"It's not weird."
That sentence gave her the confidence to finally look into his eyes, and as soon as she did, she couldn't look away. Something was telling her not to.
She liked his eyes. Something about them was inviting, and kind, and... warm?
She didn't know how to describe it, but she liked them. Probably a little too much.
"How come you're not down there?" he asked, pulling her out of her trance. He pointed down to the ring, and she followed his finger to see Jean and the rest of the group.
She frowned, scratching the back of her head. Training could get quite aggressive with It, and in turn, quite dangerous. Amara had asked to train with the holograms on her own from the beginning, and it didn't take much to get the okay from Professor Xavier.
"I... um..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "The Professor lets me train on my own."
She swallowed thickly when he gave her a confused expression.
"It's better for me that way."
Amara was grateful that he simply nodded.
They both turned to the ring, where they watched Kurt and Ororo step into the ring. Except Amara's eyes fell back down to Peter's leg only a few seconds later, and she frowned.
The poor thing. His whole mutation revolved around him being able to use his legs, and with one broken, he must have felt like the biggest bump on a log.
She glanced down at her own hands. Maybe she could control It long enough to be able to help him. Part of the reason he even had that broken leg was because she wasn't fast enough to help him, so... maybe she could help him now?
After taking a deep breath, she tried to speak.
"I... um..."
Oh, for fuck's sake. Never had she hated being the awkward idiot more than in that moment.
"I... I can heal that for you," she finally blurted out, pointing to his leg, though she was internally screaming at herself. "I-If you want."
She didn't have the courage to completely look up at Peter, but she could see him shake his head in her peripherals.
"Nah, it's okay," he said, "it's not that bad."
She frowned. "I can't imagine it's nice for someone with superspeed to not be able to go anywhere."
"Ironic, isn't it?" he chuckled, and she nodded slowly, her heart pounding in her chest.
She was nervous about this, but she wanted to help him. She owed it to him to at least try.
He sighed. "I can't ask that from you."
"It doesn't hurt me," she whispered, wringing her fingers carefully . "If... if that's what you're worried about."
The only bad thing about this was that she was going to have to hear It again - and sure, that hurt her mentally, but she was (at least, kind of) sure that she would be able to handle it for those few minutes. Hopefully.
"And I won't hurt you, either," she said, chancing up another glance at him.
She watched him ponder it over, with his lips pursed and his gaze directly on the cast on his leg. Amara could tell he was genuinely trying to be nice, but... so was she. All she could do was hope this would all go smoothly.
"Alright," he answered with a small shrug.
Amara nodded once, slightly skeptical of herself and what she was about to do. She could do this. This was what she had been training to do for years now. After setting her book down on the bench, she lowered herself down to the next level, right next to his leg, and did a quick evaluation in her head.
His leg had been completely snapped, meaning this was going to take a little bit more time than it usually did. And, if she was going to make sure to do it properly, her hands were going to have to be as close to the wound as possible.
"Um... is it okay if I... um..." She cleared her throat. "Touch you?"
Her eyes widened.
What.
The.
Fuck.
She waved her hands around frantically and quickly tried to explain herself, "Oh fuck, that's not what I meant at all, I just- on your leg- and I- m-my power- and the-"
"I know what you meant."
She couldn't bear to look up at him. Instead, she settled with staring at the floor as she tried desperately to not completely die on the spot. Fucking hell, could the world open up and just swallow her whole? That would be infinitely better than her own stupidity.
"And yes," he chuckled, "you can."
Amara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fuck, why did she have to be such a goddamn mess? She couldn't look at Peter. She was worried that if she looked at his smile or his eyes one more time she'd melt into a puddle, and she'd never be able to recover from that.
Tentatively, she placed her hand on the cast and closed her eyes. The cast was coarse beneath her fingertips, and she was gentle, igniting her power and letting it flow around his leg.
Kahuna, It gasped. It's him.
She swallowed thickly. Yes, it was him, and she had to heal his leg. That was it. Nothing else.
She focused on his leg, and the way that it felt. The complete snap in the bone that was working away at mending itself - much quicker than others, she noticed, since the bone had been put back in place, and the tendons and fibers were connecting at a rapid pace. His mutation was certainly the reason for that.
Nevertheless, she continued using her power, helping the healing move along even faster.
This is our chance. This is our chance to make him ours, Kahuna. Forever.
Her eyebrows furrowed. What? What the hell was It talking about? Make him 'ours'? What did that even mean?
Don't you want him?
She didn't know. She just met the guy a couple days ago, and she just had the first intelligible conversation with him sixty seconds prior. Why would she... want him?
Look at him, Kahuna, you know you do.
What? No, she didn't.
A pull was felt from her fingertips. A pull that she never felt before, specifically from It, while she continued to help Peter's leg. It wanted to climb higher up Peter's leg, and keep going, but she forced It to stop.
What the hell was It trying to do?
Make him ours, Kahuna, It answered, It's tone growing giddy and excited. We want him, so we'll take him-
Want him? Take him? Take him where? No! That was wrong, and insane.
Let's do it, Kahuna, let's take him-
No! Stop! They're helping him with his leg and moving on, probably never to talk to him again!
Oh, it'll be so good when he's ours, and we'll never have to be alone again.
The pull was getting stronger. It was fighting her to climb higher, but she didn't know what for, and she was getting scared.
Let's take him.
No.
Take him.
No!
Take him!
A hand was placed on her shoulder while her name was being called out, and she gasped, snapping her eyes open and trying to gather her bearings.
She looked up at Peter, whose brows were furrowed in concern and slight fear, and her heart raced, feeling the tug of It only grow.
Peter shook his head. "Hey, it's okay, it-"
"I have to go," she breathed out, scrambling off the bench and grabbing her book tightly. She jumped off the bleachers, her pace quick while tears pricked at her eyes, and she stumbled down the hall.
Amara tripped over her own feet as she broke through the door, ignoring It's deafening screams for her to turn around and go back. The stares from the other kids burned her skin as she rushed past them, but she ignored them. She did her best to keep her composure while she sprinted down the halls, but as soon as she slammed the door of her room behind her, she burst into tears, stumbling into her bathroom and falling to the floor.
Kahuna! Go back! We want him! Go back to him now!
"No," she cried, her hands moving up to pull tightly on her hair, her headache pounding and her vision going blurry. "No!"
Kahuna! Now!
She crawled into the corner of the bathroom and brought her knees up to her chest, continuously shaking her head.
"The person controls the mutation," she muttered, remembering the words from Professor Xavier. She always said them to herself when she could feel It coming - when she knew that It wanted something bad.
She knew how dangerous it was when she didn't know if It was trying to control her, but when she did know, she had to be smart. She had to try stopping It whenever she could.
Now!
"The person controls the mutation."
Kahuna!
"The person controls the mutation. The person controls the mutation. The person controls the mutation."
Amara pulled at her hair again, mumbling the words over and over to herself until she finally felt herself (and It) begin to calm down. Her chest shook with every inhale, and more tears fell with every exhale. She clutched at the neckline of her sweater, focusing on breathing until It didn't even talk to her anymore. It was at least an hour later when that finally happened.
Her thoughts were swimming and a fresh wave of exhaustion hit her. A fresh batch of tears trickled down her cheeks while she thought about what happened.
It wanted Peter. She didn't know why, but It did. It wanted Peter. And there couldn't be any good reason behind that. It just wanted Peter, probably to hurt him. Kill him.
From what she could see, Peter was a nice boy. He hadn't done anything wrong. There was no reason to hurt him.
She had to keep It away from him. To do that, she had to keep herself away from him.
Amara was never going to talk to Peter again.
*****
w/c: 2653
a/n: poor amara :( do you feel bad for her?? what about peter?? lemme know what you think!!