Missing in Action

The battle was over finally, after an hour of intense fighting, the mutants that the X-Men and the Brotherhood had been battaling were all defeated. Lance sighed looking over his team to make sure they were all right. Pietro was busy hanging off of Spike's arm making sure he was safe much to Evan's amusement and annoyance. Wanda was busy kicking the man who had burned her shirt in the gut while he whimpered in pain on the ground. Fred was sitting on the ground. And Todd, 'Wait where's Todd?' Lance thought whipping his head around in all directions looking for the youngest member of the Brotherhood.

"Pietro," Lance called to the silver haired mutant who was still hanging off of Evan. Pietro looked up at Lance, a questioning look on his face. "Where's Todd?" He asked in reply to the silent question from his team mate. Pietro let go of Evan and was standing in front of Lance within a second, a slight breeze the only evidence that he had moved.

"What do you mean 'where's Todd'? He has to be here somewhere." Pietro said his head whipping around too fast for Lance to follow. "Where is he?" Pietro asked looking back to Lance.

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking," Lance snapped annoyed.

"He was here the last I saw him" Pietro said just as Wanda walked up to them finally satisfied that the man had suffered enough for her shirt.

"Who?" she asked stopping beside her brother and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Todd, have you seen him?" Pietro asked looking at his sister. Wanda shook her head causing both Lance and Pietro to sigh.

"Let's go find him" Lance said running his hand through his hair. Before Lance, Pietro, or Wanda could move Cyclops and Wolverine approached them.

"Thank you for the help" Scott said, he still didn't really trust the Brotherhood despite the fact of the peace agreement between the two teams.

"Don't mention it Summer's, now if you'll excuse us we have to find Todd" Lance said turning away from the leader of the X-Men.

"What do you mean find him?" Cyclops asked raising one eyebrow above his red sunglasses.

"He's missing, and we don't know where he went. Last we saw him, he was here. But now he's gone." Pietro answered in a rush so that nobody could understand a word he said.

"What?" Scott asked confused.

"He's missing" Pietro said slowly annoyed at having to repeat himself.

"Are you sure he didn't just chicken out and go home?" Scott asked.

"Todd wouldnt do that Summer's, he may not be the bravest one in the group but he wouldn't just run off and leave us to fight alone. He's loyal to those he cares about. If he's missing then something else is going on!" Lance yelled drawing the other X-Men to the little group.

"Like calm down Lance, I'm sure he's close" Kitty said laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, now like I said we're going to go find him" Lance said once again turning to walk away.

" I'll help" Kitty said smiling at Lance when he looked back at her.

"We all will" Jean said giving Scott a look that told him not to argue when he looked ready to protest.

"Are you sure?" Lance asked looking at the read head.

"Of course, you helped us it's only fair that we help you in return" Jean said smiling. Lance let a small smile in return nodding his head in thanks. The Brotherhood and the X-Men both walked off in search of the missing fighter. Both teams keeping a close eye on the surroundings in search of him. When they were halfway into the woods Wolverine stopped suddenly sniffing the air. The others stopped a little ways ahead once they noticed that he was no longer with them.

"What is it chere?" Remy asked.

"I smell blood, and a lot of it" Logan answered still sniffing the air.

"Can you tell whose?" Scott asked.

"No, it's too far away to tell" Wolverine explained.

"Where's it coming from? Can you lead us there?" Lance asked hoping that it wasn't Todd's.

"Yeah." Logan answered turning to the left and walking into the trees the others following behind him. They walked for a few minutes before Wolverine stopped. The others stopped as well figuring they were there. Lance stepped out of the crowed to see if it was Todd, he noticed that Wolverine was breathing through his mouth. He looked seeing nothing ahead of them and turned to Logan.

"It's further ahead, I'm not going any further then this though" Logan explained still breathing through his mouth.

"Logan's nose is very sensitive, I'll lead from here. My nose is not as sensitive as his." Hank said walking up to Lance.

"Remy will stay here with his Logan" Remy told them from his place beside Logan. The group nodded following Hank. Hank led the group of remaining X-Men and Brotherhood members through the woods following the scent of blood. Suddenly after about tweanty more minutes of walking Pietro stopped.

"Lance," he said softly sounding on the verge of tears. The group stopped and Lance, Wanda, Fred, and Evan walked over to the silver haired teen.

"Yeah?" Lance asked, Pietro didn't answer mearly pointing to something on the ground off to the side while staring at it. Lance looked where he pointed and stared at it as well for a minute before moving closer to it. His hands shook slightly and he clenched them into fists briefly to stop them. Once his hands were steady he picked the object up still staring at it.

"What's that" Scott asked eyeing whatever it was that was in Lance's hand.

"It's one Todd's cufflinks" Lance answered still staring at it.

"Todd never takes them off, and it's only made worse by the fact that there's blood on it." Pietro added his voice still soft as he spoke slowly. It wasn't normal for the speed mutant to talk that slow even while trying to talk slow. It only happened once before that Lance knew about, it only happens when he's scared and doesn't bother to hide it. Lance looked to Pietro, he knew how he felt, he was scared too. As he watched him Pietro started crying clinging to Evan and burying his head against his chest.

"It's not that bad Pietro, I'm sure he's fine." Lance said trying to keep the doubt he felt from his voice. "Lead the way" he added to Hank who nodded and once again started to walk in the direction the scent of blood was coming from. Lance kept glancing back to watch as Pietro followed clinging to Evan's arm as he walked. And as he occaisionally reached up to wipe away the tears that continued to fall. After a few more minutes Hank stopped.

"This is it" he said stepping aside so that Lance could see. Lance walked forward a little bit seeing nothing but a pool of blood on the ground. There was no sign of Todd anywhere.

"Is there a way to tell if that's Todd's blood?" Lance asked wanting to know if his team mate and friend was hurt. Hank looked at him and nodded.

"It's his, the scent of the blood is his. I'm sorry but I do not think that he's alive wherever it is he's at. I do not think he could survive losing that amount of blood, and even if he did he is serverly injured" Hank told him. He really didn't want to tell the young man that news but what was he supposed to do? He couldn't lie and tell him it wasn't his team mates blood even if that would save the young man from being hurt. He sighed again as he thought of the one waiting back at the mansion for Todd. This was not a good day. Lance heard the loud broken sob from Pietro. Heard the curse and promise to murder whoever did this from Wanda followed a muffled sob from the girl. Heard the sad sigh from Fred, but he paid no attention to them. He stared ahead of him at the pool of blood, Todd's blood he reminded himself sadly. Finally after what felt like hours Lance turned away.

"Let's go" he said walking back the way they came ignoring the looks from the others even from his own team. Kitty looked like she wanted to comfort him, Hank looked like he regretted having to tell him, Jean looked like she wanted to apologize to him. Pietro looked sad as did Fred, Wanda looked like she wanted to kill somebody. 'Whch she probably does' Lance thought to himself, after Todd had stopped flirting with her they actually became friends. And Lance knew she kind of thought of Todd as a younger brother. But the worse look was the look Summer's was giving him. He looked sorry for him, and that made him want to punch him. 'How can he look sorry for me' he thought. He just found out his team mate was dead all he wanted to do was kill whoever killed him.

"Lance you're shaking the ground." Evan told him holding onto Pietro trying to keep them both from falling to the ground like a couple otheres had already done.

"Sorry." Lance said taking a deep breath to calm himself. He heard a chorus of sighs when the ground stopped shacking. Lance started walking again, not really caring if the others were following or not, he just wanted to go home. The walk back was much like the first, silent but this time there was a sadness that hung in the air.

"I take it, that it was his blood." Logan said when he saw the others walk back through the trees. He could smell the sadness on them as well as see it. Hank nodded his head in confirmation.

"There was no body, but I don't think he's alive. There was a lot of blood, I don't think that he lived through that amount of blood loss. And if he did, he's serverly injured." Hank said quietly so only Logan heard. Logan nodded understanding the rest of what Hank wanted to say but didn't. Logan knew this was only going to get worse once they reached the mansion. 'Somebody's going to have to tell the kid and it's not me' Logan thought. He was no good at things like this and he knew it.