~ 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚 ~
"Run!" Amara screamed, motioning for Peter to go into the forest with the girl while the town alarms wailed.
She was relieved when Peter listened instantly.
Sticking close to him as much as she could, Amara ran either just behind or beside him while turning around briefly to prevent bullets from reaching him. She hopped over a log, then did a quick 180 to slice at the bottom of a tree, which fell on top of two of the guards.
Although she was proud of herself for keeping up her pace with Peter, there was only one way for this to go: she was going to have to draw the guards away from him. Her hand waved around in a small circle, creating the same gecko from the Remedy base in the palm of her hand.
"Take him back to the house," she whispered to the lizard, "and don't leave his side after you do. If something happens to me, tell him to run."
The gecko gave a quick nod of approval before jumping off her hand and dashing ahead. Instantly, she turned herself invisible and dashed to the left, using her power to help lift her higher up in a tree. The view she gained helped her stop the guards and protect Peter's back until he was out of sight.
Her focus shifted solely to the guards when he was gone. Their steps were slow and their rifles pointed up towards the trees. She waited, only because she wanted to catch her breath. The chill of the air showed her breath as her chest heaved.
Eventually, one of the guards began constantly firing his weapon at the tops of the trees. It was unfortunately in her direction, forcing her to jump from one tree to another and give away her position. Everyone was suddenly firing at her.
She jumped down from a tree and used her power to push her to a new location faster and undetected.
There are six of them. Four behind, two in front. More are on the way. A lot more.
Amara snuck up behind one with a smaller gun. With her power, she forced the weapon under his chin just as he pulled the trigger, and he fell to the ground.
The circle of weapons were trained back on her, but she remained unseen to them.
Two o'clock. He's got a machine gun.
Her eyes immediately moved there, where she saw the very thing It said. An evil grin crept onto her face as an idea popped into her head.
She closed her eyes, keeping herself still and listening to her surroundings. The men were in a slight panic, waving their guns around, but with no idea where to shoot them. After the readjusting of Machine-Gun Guy, Amara used her power to push the trigger of the massive weapon.
She leaned back as far as her body would allow her as she directed the gun around in a circle to hit every man in the chest. They all spasmed as multiple bullets hit their chests, arms, and heads, and they all fell to the ground, completely limp.
Amara made herself visible to the last man standing; the one holding the machine gun. His face was pale with horror as he looked at the bloodbath surrounding him. Her head cocked to the side when he caught sight of her, and she chuckled when his chin quivered and his head shook.
The gun fell to his feet, and he whipped around, trying to make a break for it. Her power pushed his head into the nearest tree. He wasn't going to move anymore.
At the sound of more guards screaming orders, Amara looked around. The village was the best destination since it led them away from Peter, so that was where she headed.
The bullets were loud in the air as she ran into the street, and so were the screams of the townspeople. She ducked under a fruit stand at the sight of at least a dozen guards on either side of her, but she had to keep moving, since the woman behind the stand kicked her in the ribs and the man almost swung at her with his pitchfork. The stand blew up as she ducked under the next one, which held blankets and clothes.
Her breathing was rapid as her limbs grew heavy. Fatigue was starting to hit her hard. If she didn't come up with something soon, she wasn't going to last much longer.
She turned invisible again and ducked into the nearest alley between houses. The mud was thick beneath her shoes and made it difficult for her to run, but once she appeared on the other side of town, she slowed down. Her pace was a slow walk as she looked around again.
She circled the town in search of anything she could use as a weapon, but the closest thing she could find was another pitchfork, except without the actual good part: the prongs. It was just a long, thick stick.
A deep sigh escaped her body. "Shit."
Fortunately, the hidden state that she assumed caused confusion between the attacking group of Remedy guards, which forced them to spread out and search for her. This made it easier for her to pick them off, one by one.
She hid at the corner of a house and waited, and as soon as the two guards walked in her sight, she grabbed the closest by the collar and shoved him into the wall. The end of her stick tripped the second and hit the first across the nose, and she used the rifles each of them were carrying to shoot the opposite in the chest.
The next few encounters went similarly, and Amara was proud to have gotten out of them all with only one slash across her face from a knife and a few knees to the stomach. But the guards were starting to catch onto her pattern, despite the fact that she kept turning herself invisible.
She darted across the street to hide behind a tree, but a string of bullets followed her, and she barely made it. A groan passed her lips as she fell to the ground.
Kahuna, let me help-
"Not yet," she grit, crawling across the forest floor.
She hissed as a twig stabbed her palm, but she had to move again at another rain of bullets zooming over her head. Her makeshift weapon was gone, and she had to use her hands.
Tripping another guard, Amara swiped his rifle and shot him in the head, then emptied every bullet the weapon carried. Unfortunately, only around four of them actually fell to the ground.
She chucked the weapon at the head of the nearest guard and started darting through the people, the only thing she could do in the hopes that they wouldn't fire at the innocent people. Amara was wrong.
Instead, she had to block the shots from hitting those people as well despite the fact that they were literally trying to prevent her from going anywhere. She shoved them off to the side and darted between the houses again, knowing they were her last hope.
Amara was willing to try anything by that point. She climbed the side of the wall of a house and stood on the roof, hoping that the higher view would help her. An idea sprang into her mind when her eyes locked on the rickety clocktower.
To be able to lead the guards away, Amara had to make herself visible as she hopped from roof to roof. It almost felt like she was doing a little dance as she dodged the bullets firing at her, but she continued forward.
It created little pathways between the roofs so she didn't have to make large jumps across them.
The movement of something waving in the distance caught her eye. It was an elderly man, skinnier than a twig and hunched over slightly, but once they made eye contact, he pointed to the thing standing beside him: a horse.
Hoping he meant what she thought he did, Amara charged.
As soon as she saw the base of the clocktower, she pulled her hand back and blasted a massive surge of energy towards it. The bricks on the bottom crumbled beneath the power. Amara created a rope that reached the top of the tower, and as soon as she reached the last roof, she jumped.
Her mutation swung her under the tipping clocktower, then up and over it so that when she let go, she stood on the top and rode the roof of the falling building.
Her hands waved around to shove every guard she could find under the shadow of the building. She grit her teeth under the pressure of them all fighting against her, her hair blowing wildly behind her as the tower fell faster.
She jumped from the roof at the last second, and with her momentum, flipped through the air and landed on the back of the man's horse. That, combined with the deafening ring of the bell falling and the scream of two dozen guards being crushed, terribly frightened the horse. It's front legs raised high in the air and it neighed loudly, forcing Amara to grip onto its mane so she wouldn't fall off.
The man nodded once more at her as a smaller girl appeared from behind him. The quick flash of purple from her eyes gave Amara everything she needed to know, and after she nodded back, she commanded the horse to go forward.
There weren't many guards left, but she still chose a path that wouldn't take her directly to the house. She would need to get them off her tail, and make sure they couldn't find her for as long as possible.
It was minutes that the horse sprinted, charging through the muddy forest and breathing wildly. But once she looked behind her and saw that no one was even close to her, she slowed the animal down and closed her eyes.
The gecko wasn't far. It only took another ten minutes or so until the roof of the house appeared, calming her slightly. She made sure all of her wounds were healed as she neared the driveway.
Amara jumped off the horse and led it to the one tree she saw with a rope around it, and using her power, she created a knot loose enough around its neck that it wouldn't hurt the creature, but tight enough that it couldn't get away.
When she turned to head inside, she heard the front door open, and a small frown fell on her face when she saw Peter rush outside.
"I don't think they followed me, but it might be best for us to- oof."
Peter ran into her so hard she was forced back a few steps, but his arms were tight enough around her that she didn't fall on her ass.
Amara didn't know why she was so surprised when he didn't make any moves to let go, but she was, so much so that at first, she didn't know how to reciprocate. She just stood there with her arms hanging by her side as she tried to determine what was going on.
But when Peter buried his face in her hair, Amara's body relaxed. Her arms tentatively reached up to place her hands on his back, and Peter sighed, coaxing her to close her eyes and lean into his touch.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered, pulling back just enough so their foreheads touched.
Her frown fell deeper when her insides fluttered, and she tried her hardest to push them down. She had to get rid of them.
"Are you hurt?" she whispered back.
"Me?" he laughed, and she nodded, her hand raising to touch his cheek. He grabbed her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. "No. Thanks to you."
She nodded again, looking down at his chest. Her mind flashed reminders of what she said to herself before, forcing her to reluctantly pull away.
Amara noticed the gecko on Peter's shoulder and stuck her hand out. The gecko, however, simply bowed its head sadly and cuddled further into Peter's jacket, but when she quirked her eyebrow, it gave a tiny sigh. After it gave a little nudge to Peter's neck, the gecko jumped from his shoulder into her hand, and with a quick flick of her wrist, it was gone.
"Where's the kid?" she asked, the leaves crunching under her feet as she made her way back to the house, but she stopped when she felt his arm on her wrist.
"What about you?" he retorted, his voice filled with concern.
She simply looked at the ground. "I'm fine."
"Ames-"
"I said I'm fine," she argued, trying to break her hand away. "Now, where's the child you almost died for?"
"Oh- Amara, don't be like that," he sighed.
"Like what, Peter? Am I wrong?"
"I wasn't just going to let her get hurt-"
"Oh, great, so we're just gonna pick up every child we see getting picked on?" she asked, whipping around to face him, though his face morphed into disbelief.
"'Getting picked on'?! Are you fucking serious?" he said, and she scoffed and turned around to head back into the house. "She's a mutant, Amara, it's our goddamn job to make sure they're okay! Not even that- she's a child-"
"And how the hell are we going to take care of her?" she objected, but his hand was heavy on her shoulder, and she faced him again. "We can't even take care of ourselves!"
"Does that matter?"
Her eyes widened with rage. "Does it matter?! Of course it matters! Now, not only are we going to die in the middle of a forest in fucking Russia, but she's going to die with us! And now it'll be our fault!"
"Why are you so convinced that we're going to die here? How can you say that?"
"I'm being realistic-"
"And I'm not?! Is it so fantastical of me to want to defend someone that's like us - she's just as stuck out here as we are!"
Amara rubbed her hands over her face. Her headache was growing; she didn't have time for this. She had to get home, not defend two people now. Not to mention, this was a child that was probably going to go running around everywhere and Peter was going to follow her so she was going to have to follow him and they were going to end up running right back into-
"Ames, for fuck's sake, we're not alone." His voice was calmer, and she sighed, looking up into his eyes. "Charles will find us. I know he will. Jean would raise hell to find you until she had you back at home, in the X-Mansion, where you belong. And even if he can't, I will bring you home."
Amara shook her head and crossed her arms over head. She hated this idea. Every part of this sucked. There were no benefits to this. This was ridiculous.
"We owe it to this girl to do that, too, because we have the ability to."
She couldn't believe she was actually agreeing to this. Her tongue clucked. Goddamn Peter and his stupidly cute puppy dog eyes.
"Fine," she finally sighed. "But I don't agree with it. And she's your responsibility."
She opened the door without another word, ignoring Peter's sigh of relief as she stormed into the house.
The girl was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs with her back facing Amara. She turned around at the loud thud of Amara's footsteps, but she only glared at the girl and moved to the other side of the kitchen. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she leaned against the countertop, but both girls remained silent and stared at each other.
It didn't take long for Amara to realize that the flash of blue she saw in town was this girl. Combined with her electric blue eyes, vertical and beaded pupils, and the blue, scaly skin around her eyes that faded into the tan of the rest of her body, there was no mistaking it.
And, it was definitely enough for any mutant-hater to want her to die immediately. At least Amara and Peter looked "normal", but this girl didn't have a choice.
Amara tilted her head. The girl was young - she guessed around six. Her dark hair was frizzy and long, and her body was as skinny as Amara's. To Amara, the girl looked Asian. But... what the hell was a little Asian girl doing getting bullied by an idiotic Russian town full of white people?
Their gaze was pulled away from each other when Peter pulled a chair around to sit in front of her, leaving his back to face Amara. She frowned.
"Hey, there," he said, leaning his elbow on the table.
The girl locked eyes with him.
"What's your name?"
She blinked. It was a full thirty seconds that the three of them didn't move, and Amara was slowly beginning to lose her mind.
"We're not going to hurt you," Peter reassured her, giving her a small smile. "We can help."
She blinked again and glanced back at Amara, who kept her frown stern.
"Here," Peter sighed. He rummaged through the backpack and pulled out one of the cans of beans, then opened it and placed one of the spoons in it. "Are you hungry?"
He slid the can on the table towards her slowly, and once it was right next to her hand, he pulled his own back.
"Go ahead," he said with a small nod.
The girl moved slowly, with her tiny hands wrapping around the can so she could pull it into her lap and look at the contents. But as soon as the spoon was in her mouth, she began devouring the food, making Peter let out a sigh of relief.
"Where did you come from?" he tried, but she continued to stare at him with her cheeks full of food, much like a chipmunk.
Amara shifted her weight on her feet.
"Do you live here?"
Nothing.
"Do you... not want to tell me, or do you not know?"
She scooped up some more beans and all but shoved them in her mouth. Amara decided that, for the girl's sake, she was just going to keep her mouth shut. This girl wasn't her responsibility, so she wasn't going to get upset. Not yet, anyway.
"What about your name?" Peter tried again.
When the girl didn't answer, he sighed.
"I... I'm Peter," he introduced, pointing to himself. "Peter."
She swallowed her food. "Peter."
He chuckled and nodded, then pointed behind him. "Amara."
Amara didn't move.
"And you are..." Peter pointed to the little girl, and she pointed to herself, letting out a questioning hum. Peter chuckled and nodded again.
"Suyin." Her voice was as fragile as her appearance.
"Suyin," Peter repeated. "That's a very nice name. It's nice to meet you."
There were another few seconds of nothing, making Amara anxious again. She was going to have to leave soon. Maybe pet the horse and get a breath of fresh air, just to try calming her anger down. Literally anything.
But when the girl started talking, Amara's jaw actually dropped. She just stood there, watching the girl blabber on and on and on to Peter in a different language, with her hands waving and her expressions wavering.
Peter was just as silent as Amara was. The language wasn't even Russian - it sounded nothing like the one the people in the town were using.
She had to get out of that kitchen before she burst. Her footsteps were probably louder than they were before as she stormed past Peter and Suyin, her target now the stairs next to the kitchen to just simply get away so she didn't accidentally rip the horse to shreds.
"Amara!" Suyin called, running up to her and pulling on her clothes. She kept speaking to her with clear urgency in her tone, but Amara only glared at her.
"No," she hissed, ripping herself away and turning up the stairs.
Suyin followed her quickly, her tiny hand fisting her clothes and pulling hard. Amara had to grit her teeth to keep herself from losing it on this girl.
"Peter!" Amara seethed.
He was beside her in an instant, lifting Suyin into his arms and carrying her back down the stairs as she continued to scream Amara's name. Amara, however, simply continued her march to the master bedroom and slammed the door like the angry teenager she deserved to be.
*****
w/c: 3463
a/n: hello my lovlies!! i know i said i would post more but i literally had my last final and immediately got sick :,) i tried to make this chapter a little longer to make up for it, hopefully you enjoyed!! i hope you all had a safe and wonderful christmas!! and if you don't celebrate christmas, i hope whatever you do celebrate is just as amazing!! xx