~ 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 ~
His goggles, sweaty and caked with dirt, stuck to his face as he tried to pull them off. He took a better look around him, ignoring the stumbling of his feet.
The courtyard was an absolute disaster. Half of the base was reduced to bricks and pieces of wood laying in piles along the ground, and the other half was broken towers and walls that were doomed to fall over if the wind was too strong.
Peter took a deep breath. He was alone, with the X-Men on the other side of the base helping the last of the prisoners into the X-Jet. The corners of his lips turned down as he turned to the dragon. It sat on one of the roofs of the base, unmoving, and breathing slowly. He followed the gaze of the dragon to an opening in a wall of the base.
He couldn't see anything inside; it was too dark. But, the dragon was staring at it. A low growl shook its voice.
Before his curiosity could take over and lead him inside the opening two hundred feet away from him, the dragon moved. Its tail straightened as it stood and jumped off the roof, its wings carrying it into the cloudy sky. The loop the dragon made was large, and Peter followed it as it dove lower, and lower, and directly into the opening of the wall.
The opening couldn't have been larger than ten feet, which made the vanishing of the dragon that much more phenomenal. It disappeared with a poof of black smoke, which lingered in the air for a few seconds, then faded away completely.
Peter couldn't move as he stared at the opening. He still couldn't see inside. It was an unnatural pitch black.
Everything went silent.
The ground shook once. It shook again.
And Amara emerged from the opening, running faster than he thinks he's ever seen her run before, her face caked in blood and black ooze, her hair a mess, and her expression a picture of pure, utter horror. She was screaming bloody murder, so much so he couldn't understand a word of what she said.
His legs moved instantly. They pounded against the stone as he ran to her, the last bit of adrenaline his body probably had being used to the last drop. He didn't care. Her face made him sick to his stomach. He had to get to her.
He was so close. They were so close. They were so close.
Then something grabbed her ankle. He watched with terror as she faceplanted into the ground, and before she could grab onto anything, she was yanked backward. She continued to scream, desperately trying to grab anything.
Peter wasn't fast enough to reach her, but he could make out what she was saying as her hands clutched onto the opening of the wall.
"Peter! Run! Run! RUN!"
Her hands slipped from the wall, and she disappeared just as fast as the dragon did.
Peter didn't even think as he followed her into the opening, screaming her name and looking around wildly. The pitch black disappeared, and he bolted down every hallway he could find, confused and terrified and desperate for his mutation to come back right now.
He couldn't find her. He was getting lost, deeper and deeper into the maze, in places he didn't even know could exist with how little of the base was left outside. Her screaming seemed to get further and further away, making him panic even more and force himself to run even faster.
He jumped down a flight of stairs and leapt over all the bodies laying on the ground. He sprinted along the stone and cursed every empty hall he found.
Peter slammed into something at the next corner he turned, and he fumbled on his feet, only having half a second to realize it was Amara before she grabbed his arm and yanked him back the way he came.
Unfortunately for her, he was able to see the thing at the end of the hall that Amara was running from, and he stood still.
It was... It was Amara, but way, way worse. She was massive. Her teeth were sharp and pointy. Her arms and legs were long and skinny, and almost unreal. Her eyes were red and glowing. Her hair was a mess. And her entire body was black and misty, exactly like the dragon. The bad Amara used all four of her limbs to crawl forward, up the wall and along the ceiling in quick circles, directly towards them.
Amara must have used her mutation to get him to move, and it worked, because he very quickly started running down the hallways with her. Peter had no idea if she knew where she was going, but he followed her anyway, too confused and scared to do anything otherwise. He couldn't run away like he usually could.
"Peter," It called. The combination on It's voice and massive footsteps sent chills down Peter's spine. He couldn't even tell where the voice was coming from. It was like it came from every direction and straight to his skull, then echoed inside his head. "Get back here."
Amara pulled him through a doorway and up a spiral staircase. He cried when he tripped on something, but didn't even bother checking what it was. He just continued to run. Deja vu hit him like it never had before as emerged on a roof, and didn't stop moving. Of course, he didn't have his speed as they did this again.
Their balance wobbled as It broke through the roof. He didn't have time to hesitate. The edge of the roof was beneath his feet, and his next step was his big leap off of it. A loud roar came from behind them, probably It just barely missing grabbing them from the air.
Their landing wasn't pretty. Amara wrapped herself around him and they rolled along the ground, a little ungracefully and harder than necessary. When they stopped, Peter was basically laying in Amara's lap. They looked at each other quickly.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice cracking.
He nodded, but he didn't have time to respond. The ground shook again, and Peter turned, horrified to see the bad Amara staring at them angrily. He tried to get up with Amara as she stood, but she kept him down, and stood in front of him. He didn't know what to do except watch.
"Stupid girl," It seethed, moving closer at an impossible pace.
His heart sank as he watched Amara slowly raise her hand. He could see the shaking of her body from his spot on the ground. She was terrified.
"Please, stop," she said, but Peter was sure It only moved faster.
"That's not going to work. Not anymore."
It stormed all the way up to her with Its mouth wide and body even larger than before. But just before It could reach her, a strike of lightning hit It on the head. Both of the Amaras cried out in pain, and Peter sprang up, running to his Amara and pulling her back.
He hugged her close as he watched each of the X-Men land in a circle around It. It growled lowly and looked around, but before Peter could say anything, Kurt appeared in front of them, and they were gone with a poof.
They landed behind the X-Jet. Luckily, Peter's grip was tight on Amara, which let him hold onto her tightly when she tried to book it into the forest.
"Ames, hang on!"
"Let go of me, Peter," she fought, instantly trying to pull herself out of his grip. "Please, It's going to kill them, I have to lead It away, you have to run away from me-"
"I'm not going anywhere," he said firmly. "I'm not going to leave you. But you have to tell It to stop."
"I- I can't control It, Peter, I can't do it, I can't control It anymore, not even a little-"
"Yes, you can."
Tears streamed down her face as her attempts to get away from him weakened, enough to the point that her legs gave out underneath her, and she fell into a half-heap on the ground. He heard It roar in anger, and Amara shook her head.
"You have to run," she cried, holding tightly onto his wrists. "I don't want to hurt you, Peter, you have to run away from me-"
"I'm not going to. Not again." Being as careful as he could with the wounds on her face, he wiped her tears. "We can figure this out. Let me help you."
Her face scrunched. "It's too late for that."
"Too late?"
"I have to go now. I have to leave. I have to go somewhere I'll never hurt anyone ever again."
"Ames, you can do this, we can help you-"
"It wants you."
His brows furrowed. "It... It wants me?" he asked, confusion lacing his voice. What the hell did that mean? Why would It want him? He tried to search for answers in her eyes, but she stared at the ground, sniffling softly.
"It wants you," she repeated.
Her hands trembled against his own.
"It's too late to save me. But, you... you can run. You can go. You have to go. You can be happy."
"Why does It want me?" he asked. Her head shook again.
"Peter-"
"Why does It want me?"
Her face scrunched up tightly. This clearly wasn't a question she wanted to answer, but he had to know. He had to know what the hell was going on so he could help her.
"Because..." She sniffled. "Because I want you."
There was a moment of silence as he simply held her, unable to come up with any words in response. He had no idea what he was supposed to say.
"It's always been you, Peter," she muttered. "Ever since I met you. The only thing I've ever wanted is you."
His heart skipped a beat. He had to admit, part of it was because it felt really nice to hear that. He liked her, too, and he wanted her for the longest time, too. He knew that he pretended to hate her, simply because she hated him, when all he really wanted was to hold her closer than anyone before.
He didn't think it was the same for her. She started it, after all. She told him to stay away from her, right from the-
He stopped. Right from the beginning. Right from the beginning, she told him to stay away from her. Just like she was now.
Does that mean that It's been torturing her with this for an entire year?
She sniffled. "It's been saying It wants to make you mine. It wants to take you. I never understood what It meant. Not until a few moments ago."
He didn't move as her hands raised to his face. One of her hands cupped his jaw. But the other pointed to his forehead.
"It wants to be in your head, too. It wants me to be connected to you so that you can never leave me. Because too many people have left me, and I wasn't able to do anything about it. This way, you'll always have to be with me. And It'll never let you leave."
She couldn't leave. He couldn't just leave her alone. Things were finally going right. Things were finally going well between them. Why the hell did this have to happen? Why now? Why her? Of all the girls in the goddamn world... why did it have to be her?
"Look at me, Peter."
Her hands cupped his face, and her thumbs rubbed along his cheeks. He hated the purpose he saw in her gaze when he did. The determination, because she knew she was right.
"You have to listen to me when I say this." She bent her head enough so their eyes were level, and he was forced to look into them. "I will die a thousand different ways before I let you hear It like I do. Before I even let It try."
"There has to be another way." Peter wasn't surprised that his own voice cracked. "I can't do it, Ames, I can't lose you again-"
"And I can't be the reason you die."
"We can figure this out. We can figure it out."
"There's no time."
"Of course there's time."
"Please," she cried. "Please understand. Please understand that I can't control what's happening. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
He held on tightly and shook his head aggressively. It was too much. How was he supposed to go home and live in the school, surrounded by the people he loved and taken care of to the brim, when he knew that Amara was somewhere out there, alone, trying to figure out something he was convinced was trying to kill her.
"I have to go, Peter. Let me go."
"I can't." he said. He didn't care about her mutation wanting him. He knows he definitely should, but in that moment, he didn't care at all. He just cared about her. He just wanted her safe, and happy, and he didn't think either of those things would be possible if she ran away.
He couldn't live with himself if he never saw her again. He'd convince her to let him come. That's what he had to do. That's what he was going to do.
But, before he could get the words out, something exploded on the other side of the plane.
Amara's eyes widened.
"Oh, no."
And that was all he saw before they were separated forcefully, and thrown into the air. Peter landed in the courtyard sort of gently, but Amara was thrown into a pile of stones, and was left completely unmoving.
"Stupid girl," It seethed, hissing at her unconscious body. "So weak, and foolish. She doesn't even know what she needs."
It had him pinned to the ground with Amara's power and crawled over to him. It's face was leaned in all the way to Peter's, and It chuckled, probably enjoying watching him squirm away. It looked him up and down and licked It's lips, sending him a nasty smile that made his blood run cold.
"Lucky for her, I know exactly how to fix that."
*****
w/c: 2399