*A/N: Some more Marvel characters are briefly noted. Since this is a fic, age difference is inconsequential. This is the last chapter... Are you ready?

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One by one, each member of the X-Men filed out of the mansion and into the bright sunlight. Ignoring the negative, they all focused on how to defeat their opposition as quickly and efficiently as possible. Some were afraid, however, that their efforts would be futile and the fight might turn into a larger struggle for survival.

Pyro blinked as the sunlight invaded his eyelids and scorched his pupils. He stood in between Storm and Wolverine, who stared intently at their adversary, no doubt pondering the best strategy in which to defeat it. With the help of the white-haired goddess, the sun lost its ground as thick, dark clouds traversed the sky and broke its direct connection with the earth.

Blinking thankfully, John rested his eyes upon the unimpressive figure before him.

It was in the form of a woman- not a recognizable woman, but it would have definitely been meaningful to someone somewhere around the world, for Dark Phoenix took the shape of only that which it had seen or experienced. Truthfully, the entity had no human feelings, and this was the reason that she wanted Pyro. She wanted to learn.

The entirety of the scene looked so humorous. One woman standing in a large clearing was opposite a defensive line of many mutants, who all looked menacing and intent on eradication. But looks could be deceiving. Had Pyro not learned this himself?

Cursing himself momentarily, John pushed every thought of Mystique out of his head and tried to focus on his adversary. But no matter how hard he tried, each thought was emblazoned in his mind. Each image painfully scorched his entire body. He saw her again and again- each moment that they had spent together. And he wondered: Where were these torturous images coming from?

'It seems that you make a habit of asking that which you already know,' A deep thought laughed at him. 'I placed more faith in you than that, my fiery companion.'

'I'm not your companion, Phoenix. I'm not! Leave us; I do not want to fight you.' But John's words were lost as the entity more forcefully entered his mind.

'You are my companion. You are my lover and supplier of understanding. You are me.'

'I'm not you! I'm not! You will not force me to fight you, and I will not join your cause. All it will bring is more war and suffering, and I cannot just stand here and accept that. As it were, I would rather kill myself than subject my friends to your wrath!'

A moment of silence filled his being; it wrapped around his very heart with a chilling grasp of frigid iron. His soul felt diminished as the Phoenix lingered in his mind, unspeaking. Internally, he was weakening; externally, he was unknowingly on the ground, his lips kissing the damp earth. Every ounce of strength had left him, and now only his mind was left to defend him against the silent attacker.

Cyclops was on the ground, trying to lift Pyro up, but it seemed as if the teenager's body was entirely composed of solid steel. Scott could not lift him.

"Scott," Jean said worriedly, "Leave him be. We need to know exactly what Dark Phoenix wants before we attack; we don't want to harm John."

Sighing, Cyclops agreed. But he didn't want to just stand around while a member of the X-Men was in pain. Scott hated feeling defenseless; he hated having no way of rescuing the tortured or the captive. But now he had to do exactly what he loathed the most.

Through the growing group of mutants, Professor Xavier glided through the midst. Taking one knowing look toward John, he was suddenly immersed inside of the boy's thoughts.

'If you would just agree, we could be partners in a world that you could never imagine! Pyro, you've taught me what I need to know to get you to join me. And I wish to know even more.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' John thought, 'You've been in my mind twice, how could I have taught you anything?'

And the answer was revealed to him. Without her mockingly harsh tone, John realized everything. He barely had to skim the surface of thought to find out what had been happening to him for so long.

Again, he felt used.

Again, he felt dirty.

Again, he felt the rage boiling inside of his veins, pleading to be put to use.

He felt nothing but contempt for the force that invaded his mind and bargained with him. All John wanted to do was die.

'You... you tricked me. For so long, and I never knew... YOU TRICKED ME!'

Suddenly, his physical form wrenched from the ground and shook uncontrollably; streaming tears flew from his closed eyes and stained his face. His lips convulsed as his fury boiled deeper inside of him. Feeling the fire and the immense heat, Pyro's eyes flashed open. The scorching element seemed to flicker inside of his eyes as he raised himself from the ground and took to his feet.

"I'm gonna kill her," he whispered. "She tricked me; IT tricked me!"

"John, please calm down. This is exactly what she wants. Please, control yourself; we need to form some maneuver for attack."

Xavier's wise eyes rested on Pyro's. Suddenly, everything seemed peaceful and John no longer wanted revenge, but to listen.

"Now, there is no possible way of completely eradicating Dark Phoenix. It is extremely powerful and cannot be killed. Sadly, there is only one way that we can hope to defeat it. Jean and I will have to combine our powers and mentally challenge the Phoenix."

At Xavier's words, Scott threw himself into the conversation:

"Professor, with all due respect, I can't allow you to do that. It's madness! We all are here to fight it, and we're not going to stand here and let you and Jean expose yourself to that kind of power alone! We..."

"Scott, please," Xavier replied kindly. "Now, with mine and Jean's powers, we will be able to defeat this adversary. But, we will need physical attackers distracting it while we are internally combating."

Feeling somewhat sheepish, Scott backed away silently. Wolverine took his place.

"So, we'll be attacking both aspects," he said gruffly.

Xavier nodded.

"Good," Logan replied, cracking his knuckles, "'cause I've got a huge bone to pick with her..."

Then on Xavier's command, every X-Men and student alike prepared for combat.

Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee stood together, all awaiting Xavier's next instruction for attack. None of them knew fear as they looked upon their friend, John, who clenched his fists, ready to fight.

Another wave of students were ready to charge, as well. This group included Sean and Theresa Cassidy, Evan Daniels, Piotr Rasputin, Claudette and Nicole St. Croix, Lorna Dane, and many other gifted youngsters. Each were ready to do their part to rid the world of Dark Phoenix for at least another millennia. But would it be easy?

Finally, the command came and every student raced toward their mutual opponent. At the exact moment when Xavier felt the first muscle twitch of the student body, he signaled Jean to grab onto his hand. Channeling their gifts together, they directed the full force toward Dark Phoenix.

The physical and mental assaults seemed to distract the entity; it couldn't seem to find what to attack first. But it was more powerful than all of them combined, and Xavier knew this all too well. He focused every ounce of his concentration on the Dark Phoenix, and he felt Jean's utter concentration as well.

In the depths of his mind, he could feel the force weakening. Every few moments, it would real up and slash at the group of attackers, giving Xavier and Jean the space they needed to attack. But how long would the physical assailants last?

Kitty Pryde had found a way to attack using her mutation. She entered the body that the entity had formed into and forced Dark Phoenix to completely cease her attacks, mentally and physically. Now it was as if Shadowcat were a computer virus; the Phoenix had no choice but to stop all of her attacks and rid of Kitty. Pryde new that this maneuver would give Jean and Professor X some time to weaken the force further. But when she tried to enter again, Kitty found a force field around her objective, prohibiting her to intrude again.

The efforts of the X-Men were indefatigable. They continued for hours upon hours, attacking their opponent with everything they had, until finally, Dark Phoenix definitely had just about enough.

"STOP!" Her loud voice boomed.

Everyone in the vicinity ceased in their actions and stared at the woman in front of them. Her chest heaved with each struggling breath and her eyes appeared to be on fire. When she spoke again, her omnipotence was evident.

"I am Fire and Life Incarnate! I demand one small gift from the pawns of the world and this is what I receive!"

Pyro, exhausted from his assaults, screamed in hysterics, his true feelings finally being unleashed upon his tormentor:

"You pretended to love me!" He shouted, "You lied to me and deceived me! I thought that you were someone that you are not and I was tragically mistaken! But yet, you have made me see more than anyone ever could." The embers in his eyes now were magnified and grew larger than that of Dark Phoenix's. He looked around manically and hollered out everything that he had been containing for so long.

"I thought I was in love with someone! And you took that away from me; you took the only thing that mattered to me, the only thing that made any sense! So I am not the teacher here, Phoenix, you are. You've taught me how everything in life is false. And if you are fire and life incarnate, then I say FUCK LIFE! To HELL with fire! If you are fire and life incarnate, then I want neither of these "gifts"! Kill me now and reap the rewards!"

Then falling to his knees, John bowed his head in defeat.

He could feel the powerful force eyeing him. It tried to enter his mind, but every entryway seemed to be blockaded. Finally, he felt her guard being let down. This was the chance to dispose of her, if not forever, then long enough.

And Xavier didn't miss his chance.

With Jean's hand tightly grasped, both telepaths focused on the woman and connected with her in full-force. Before anyone could blink, Dark Phoenix was gone.

No cheers of celebration were uttered; every mutant lied on the ground with eyes closed and a burden from their shoulders. The Phoenix was gone, but no one had enough energy to acknowledge it.

Wolverine hoisted himself from the ground and limped toward Pyro. As he continued to walk, the limp subsided and it never appeared as if he were in a full-scale war at all.

"Kid," he said softly, "do you wanna talk about it?"

But Pyro shook his head. All he wanted to do was be alone... But he had been alone all along. He had been with the enemy the entire time.

"I loved her, Logan," John said sadly. "And she wasn't real."

Logan watched as John fought back tears. "It manipulated you, John. There was nothing that we could have done to stop it. It wanted to feel, and you gave it the most powerful emotion of all: Love."

John continued to sob and shake his head furiously. "But I thought that Mys...," he started to choke. "I thought she was Mystique. Logan, I was in love with her and it felt... it felt so real."

Wolverine grunted, "I'm sorry, Kid. But like I said, there's nothing we could have done. We're lucky to have Chuck on our side, or she... it... hell, whatever it is... would have won. I know that you lost something today, but if you think about it, you never really had it to begin with."

This made Pyro sob even more.

He had never had her to begin with.

She wasn't real.

Mystique didn't share the same feelings that he had. Because it wasn't really her.

'Wait,' Pyro thought. 'Is Mystique even alive? What if Dark Phoenix took over Mystique's identity after I had killed her? What if... what if she really is dead?'

And then he came to a decision.

"I'm gonna find her, Logan. As God as my witness, I'll find her. And nothing's gonna stop me."

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*A/N: There will be one more installment in the Pyro Series, no more. So, another fic is on the way to make the Pyro Series a Trilogy! That is, of course... if you want one?