Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is just for fun

First chapter of five, please review

Eleven ways X2 and two ways X3 didn't go

1.Screams in the darkness

In retro perspective John wasn't sure what had woken him: The screaming or the pain in his ears and head. In the end it didn't matter because no matter what woke him, it saved his life.

He had never been exposed to Siryn's scream before and he was glad if he never had to again.

When he had woken up, he had done what his instinct always told him: grab your weapon, or what it had been in the last years: grab your lighter!

A short look over to Bobby's bed confirmed his suspicions that Bobby had not returned from his nightly ice cream trip of guilt and therefore had to be somewhere in the house.

John sprinted out of the room, not bothering with additional clothing or shoes. His gut told him to run so he ran.

The hallway was filled with panicked mutant kids and Piotr who tried to calm and herd them together. John knew like every other inhabitant f the mansion where the escape tunnels where and when he ran down the stairs he yelled at a girl to go back upstairs, but the girl grabbed his T-Shirt and dragged him with her. He wasn't really sure what was happening here, but when she screamed at him, he recognised Rogue.

'Let me go.' He cried but her grip on his T-Shirt was merciless.

'They have them, John, and they want us all. They shot Logan and they have Bobby, and Siryn...' She told him while she dragged him further up the stairs.

'Who are they?' he could finally loose her grip on his shirt and kept in step with her.

'I don't know. Soldiers. Maybe the government, maybe …' She paused for a moment and a horrified look manifested in her eyes.

'What?' He asked annoyed, not sure whether he was annoyed because she stopped walking or because she stopped talking.

'Magneto.'

As if to emphasize her argument, above them windows exploded. Glass splinters flew through he air, Rogue screamed and John was pretty sure that something hit his head, but he didn't care, couldn't care right now because their escape passageway was blocked. They were upstairs and that meant he and Rogue couldn't join Piotr and the others. John made a split decision and ducked into the next hallway with Rogue at his heels.

'Where are you going?'

She hadn't been here as long as he had and didn't know that there was another tunnel that didn't lead out in the woods but in the garage, not a perfect plan but the best they had.

His vision began to blur at the edges when he lead her through the cold and wet tunnel, with little stones poking in their feet and something sticky that ran down his neck.

Next to the metal steps that lead to the hatch, which opened into the garage, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

'John...'

'Go up first. I need a break.'

'No, John, you're bleeding.' She pointed at his neck, or maybe at his head, he couldn't quite make that out, but he touched his neck with his hand and when he looked at it, it was bright red.

'Shit. One-eye will hate me when I get his beloved car all bloody.' And despite everything Rogue grinned a bit and he grinned back.

'Let's go then.' He said, feeling dizzily, climbed up the steps and more or less crawled into the garage floor.

Rogue, careful not to touch his bare skin, gripped him under his shoulders and practically hauled him on the back seat of some car. The roar of the engine was the last thing he heard before he passed out.

When he woke up again, the sun shone, his head hurt like hell and in front of him, Rogue had curled up in the passenger seat. Her white and dark strands fell over her face and she snored lightly. If he hadn't been sleeping with her boyfriend and if she had been touchable, John was pretty sure he would have made a move on her, but now she held no temptation. Despite having a long time affair with Bobby, which she of course didn't know, she was some kind of friend and they were in this together, so he didn't needed to complicate things more as they were.

He touched his head and felt the makeshift bandage around his head. It hurt like hell but at least his vision was clear.

'Wake up.' He told Rogue maybe a bit louder than necessary.

'You're feeling better?' she asked after yawning and stretching to wake up.

'Yes. So, where are we?'

'Somewhere in Connecticut.' She answered and shivered. The heating was running, but it was still cold. No surprise since they had October already.

'We need to find the others.' She said. John withstood the urge to roll his eyes and replied:

'And where do we begin to look? Or did Piotr send you a postcard where he took off to?'

'So, what's your plan? Sitting around and doing nothing?'

'We sell the car, get some clothes and something to eat and then we can make plans.'

She nodded and John was not surprised. She was tough, a survivor, just like he and unlike Bobby. Maybe that was what had drawn them both towards Bobby: his innocence, his believe in goodness. The thought of Bobby held a sting. John wondered what they would do to him and he hoped it wasn't experimenting. Maybe they only had wanted the professor and since he hadn't been there, they had taken the hostages. John sincerely hoped so. He didn't want to imagine a broken and twisted Frankenstein version of Bobby that hated everyone.

'I drive.' He said. He needed to do something to distract himself from his thoughts and the headache.

Selling the car proved to be disturbingly easy. They told the customer that they had eloped and now wanted to get rid of the car, because their parents could track them with it. The woman was very understanding and gave them three thousand dollars for it.

The first thing they bought with that money was proper clothing and the second a warm meal at the Italian restaurant next to the shop.

Over spaghetti (Rogue) and pizza (John) they argued what to do next.

'We could return to mansion. They have enough hostages, no matter whether they want to blackmail the professor or to do experiments.'

'And then we just wait there until everyone returns, too or maybe not.' John replied.

'Come one, Rogue, you saw them. What were they, who commanded them? There has to be something.'

'Logan was afraid of him.' She remembered.

'Who?'

'That man. He was not a soldier; he was older, cold blooded. He knew Logan, knew about his skeleton.'

'That's something. Wolverine was gone, where was he the last weeks. Come on, Rogue, I know that you know where he was.'

'Alkali Lake. The professor had sent him there, but John, we don't know if there is anything there or anyone. I think we should return to the mansion. They will come back eventually.'

'Maybe there is no one to come back except Piotr and us with the others. And Piotr won't return until he's sure that the mansion is absolutely safe. The man looks scary but is as soft as a marshmallow at heart. So, do you have any alternative to Alkali Lake?'

'We could wait.'

'For hell's sake, they have Bobby and Wolverine and who knows who else they got or what they're going to do with them. You said the old guy knew Wolverine. What if he does additional experiments? We're the only one's who can maybe save them and all you want to do is sit here and wait!'

'You always gave a them about the people around you, why the sudden change of mind?'

'You don't know that well.'

'I touched Bobby. I know you like he knows you.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'You know very well what I'm talking about. Or did you really think that I wouldn't have noticed that you're sleeping with him, even without touching him? I'm not stupid, John.'

'No? But you're stupid enough to think that you can make Wolverine jealous with Bobby falling in love with you. But no matter what you do with Bobby, he will always return to me, always.'

'Then why don't you just do it? Are you that afraid of love that you're rather his side leap than his boyfriend? Wake up John, the whole I-ve-got-a-dysfuntional-family-and-therefore-am-afraid-of-relationships is so old-fashioned.'

'You're the right one to give me a lecture about relationships Miss I-can-never-have-sex-but-have-a-crush-on-a-guy-that-practically-reeks-sex.'

They both stared angrily at each other. John's hand opened and closed his lighter but he didn't draw a flame. He was not as impulsive as people believed him to be and he was certainly not stupid enough to attack another mutant in a public area in broad daylight, when he had just survived a government attack on his home. And aside from this, the painkillers were wearing off and with the headache it was hard to concentrate on anything but the pain that seemed to split his head open.

'Fine.' He said: 'Let's draw lots what we're going to do.'

He took out a coin.

'Heads or tails?

'Heads.'

He flipped the coin into the air and let it fall on the table. The coin rotated around itself and then laid down.

Head.

'Damn!' John cursed and Rogue didn't look too satisfied, too.

'So, two tickets to Westchester then.' He said mock politely: 'Does the lady wish to travel first or second class?'

Slightly amazed at the speed John could overlook their argument, Rogue didn't answer. John rolled his eyes.

'First class and flip the coin again. We have to see who of us will tell Professor Summers that we sold his car.'

John groaned. This would be a hell of a waiting.

2.4am

When the windows splintered and Wolverine killed the man, Bobby could have looked everywhere but he looked at the kitchen clock. 4am. Exactly 4am.

24 hours later he looked at his watch, well technically it was Ronny's watch but his brother had already called the police on him without knowing that Bobby took his watch, so Bobby figured that it didn't matter anymore, and shivered. One of John's favourite bands had a song called 4am. The song was about losing the best friend, again technically John wasn't his best friend, well okay he was but he was a bit more than 'only' his best friend, and Bobby wondered whether John was a prophetic. With John you could never know, he always held something in the backhand, so he got always everything what he wanted, well maybe not always since Bobby didn't believe that John had wanted to get captured by this Stryker whoever he was. The professors said that he was responsible for Wolverine's adamantium skeleton. Bobby shivered at that thought. If a man was merciless and cold-blooded enough to do that to an immortal man, he didn't want to imagine what he could do with John.

Bobby approached the small fire he, Rogue and that blue guy, Kurt, had started but it didn't warm him. It was too cold. Bobby had always suspected that John's fire burned hotter than ordinary fire but this wasn't the way he had wanted to get his suspicions confirmed.

'You should try to catch some sleep, Bobby.' Professor Grey said gently and sat down next to him. She looked as tired and exhausted as he was, so he didn't get up but remained where he was: a little too close to the fire for a normal person.

'He's going to be okay.' She said and when Bobby looked not surprised she said: 'I didn't read your thoughts.'

He merely shrugged. She didn't know what Stryker would do with John and what not, so her words held no comfort for him and certainly didn't chase out the gruesome imagines he had in his mind.

'You don't know that.'

'No, I don't but I think that John is intelligent and has enough survival instinct not to get into additional trouble or try to get out on his own. He cares more for other people than he wants to make believe.'

Bobby laughed humourlessly.

'If they drug him and decide to try something on him like they did with Wolverine, it doesn't matter what he does or can do. Or if they threaten the other children, John will do something stupid. I know him. He always rushes into things when he loses his temper.' His sentences turned more and more into sobbed choking.

'He cares too much. He's nearly over protective and still thinks that he's weak because he can't create fire or maybe he can and doesn't know because he thinks he can't and if they can do something so cruel to Wolverine then they can dissect John without the slightest guilt.' He had spoken very fast so he wouldn't begin to cry but the image of John, broken and hollow, without his eyes burning with emotion but blank and cold, threatened to gain the upper hand.

Jean laid a soothing hand on his shoulder. She didn't say anything, couldn't say anything because she couldn't promise that nothing would happen to John, but he felt that he was not alone. They had Scott, too and she felt like he did and it felt comfortingly not to be alone.

'I'll go with you.' He told professor Munroe and the blue guy. Ororo made a move as if to protest but Jean sent her a placating look and Ororo nodded.

'Fine, but when they have the children, you're the first one out of there.' Jean said sternly. Bobby nodded. As long as he had John back with him, he didn't care.

His heart raced fast as they entered the dam. He walked next to Kurt and the other man was just as nervous as he was, which was not calming but he tried his best to focus on John and not on the immediate threat of death

To his surprise they made it into the control room without any problems. His stomach churned when he saw the surveillance images of the cell where the children where held prisoners. John was missing among them. Bobby felt panic dwell up in him. If John wasn't there…He fast checked the other monitors but none of them showed John. He was not the only one that had noticed that John wasn't in the base.

'Where's Pyro?' Asked Wolverine, who had also checked the surveillance monitors.

'He isn't here?' Was Ororo's reaction who also leaned over the monitors.

'Are there rooms that are not shown here?' Bobby asked Mystique in barely concealed panic.

'Three, lowest level, just above the turbines.' She said after taking a short look into the files on the computer.

'I'll go. John is there.'

'You're sure you can do what you have to do?' Wolverine asked.

Bobby created a long, sharp blade with his hand and put all of his determination in his voice and his eyes as he replied:

'I am.'

He went deeper and deeper into the innards of the dam. It was cold down here, cold and damp. He briefly thought about Rogue, alone in the jet, waiting for them, any of them to return. He felt sorry for leaving her alone but he knew she was okay. She didn't need him.

Finally he reached the last floor. So near the turbines he would have thought that it had to be noisy but the walls were practically soundproof. Must be handy, if you tortured someone, Bobby thought.

Three doors, three tries. He hoped like crazy that John was behind one of them, because if he was not…

Bobby froze the lock of the first door and smashed it, so he could open the door.

Nothing.

He had more luck with the second door. He could make out a body, lying against the opposite wall like a life-sized doll. Bobby quickly crossed the room and kneeled down next to the body. It was John and he breathed. He looked for injuries but couldn't find anything but a few bruises around John's wrists, on his head and two tap wounds where they must have injected him with the tranquillisers.

Bobby let out a breath he hadn't been aware of and slung John's unconscious form over his shoulders. Halfway through he door he collapsed in pain. A high, strident note tried to split his head apart; a thousand needles bit into his body and tore out his flesh with every movement.

It ended as suddenly as it had begun.

The pain, the note just stopped and everything was like it had been a mere minute before.

Bobby really didn't want to know what that had been, shouldered his best friend anew and hurried to get back to the others.

Dr. Grey died that morning but John woke up that evening with Bobby waiting at his bedside.

3. We're in this together

The last thing Bobby remembered was the surprised face of Logan opposite him.

The last thing John remembered was the closing door behind Bobby before he had gone to sleep that evening.

The first thing Bobby did when he woke up was reaching for the tap wound on the back of his neck.

The first thing John did was reaching for his lighter, which wasn't there.

When they opened their eyes the first thing they saw was each other, the second that they weren't in the mansion anymore but in a small room surrounded with the sleeping forms of some of their fellow students.

'John are you okay?'

'Of course, I'm just fucking fine, thank you Drake.'

'I was just being friendly to you.'

'And as usual you being 'just friendly' led us into a catastrophe.'

'You're saying that this is my fault?'

'I wouldn't be surprised if it where. Maybe your little girlfriend found out that you're not such a poster boy and decided to let us starve to death and everyone who saw her kidnapping us, too.'

'Your theory's bullshit.'

'You've got a better one?'

'Magneto?'

'Who is in jail.'

'Fine. The government?'

'Now you have a point. Maybe they want to make killers out of us.'

'You've seen way to much films, Johnny.'

'Again. You've got a better theory?'

'They re-established the reporting obligation or maybe they're interning all the mutants in the country. Maybe that's why the Professor and everyone else were gone tonight. They wanted to prevent the internment and failed.'

'And I've seen to many films.' John rolled his eyes.

'It's at least more plausible than you're theory.' Bobby replied but John didn't answer. He had closed his eyes and his fingers twitched as he felt something between them that Bobby couldn't see.

Which was nearer to the truth than Bobby would have thought. John could not only control fire he could also feel it as long as it was in a certain radius around him. It didn't matter whether it was an open fire or only a spark from a dysfunctional electronic device, if it was there he could feel it and he could control it.

He had never told anyone because normally he didn't need his sixths sense and also, how could he have explained to anyone how it was to perceive something without using his eyes, or ears or any normal sensory organ at all.

But is time there was no fire he could feel, nothing at all.

'John?' Bobby was always scared if he did this too long.

'No fire, you'll have to get us out of here.'

Bobby looked around. The walls were massive and there was no visible door. He touched one of the metal bars that were embedded in the walls and immediately recoiled.

'That's a live wire.'

'Damn.'

Bobby kneeled down next to a girl John hadn't even known lived in the mansion. He checked her pulse, then breathed out relieved.

'They're only sleeping.' He sat back down next to John.

'Do you think they will look for us?'

John shrugged.

'Maybe they can't.'

'Huh?'

'If this is really the work of the government then maybe they can't get us out. You know them, always playing by the rules.'

'Glad you're looking so positively in our future, Johnny.'

'I'm being realistic, Drake. And if you would really believe that the world is such a good place then you would've told your parents the truth.'

'It's your life's aspiration to be a pain in the ass, isn't it?'

'Someone's got to make sure that you don't decorate the whole world with your little ice flowers and paint it pink, just because you think it's prettier that way.'

'I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer.'

'You just did.'

'You have to have the last say in anything, haven't you?'

'It's not my fault that I'm under your bad influence.'

'You're still aware of the fact that we're in this together, so that it might be a bad thing to upset your ally? John snorted at that.

'What you're going to do? Freeze me and all the children around us to death? I don't think so. And if someone has the right to play the pissed-of-by-your-behaviour-card then it be me, since you cheated on me with Rouge and not I on you.'

'Please, John…'

''Please, John' What? What do you want to tell me Bobby? That it was a mistake or maybe that I shouldn't put up such a fuss because it was all a game for you until The One came along?'

'Do we have to discuss that now?' Bobby asked weakly.

'We have time no and unlike usually you can't run away. So yes I think it's the perfect time for discussing our relationship.'

'What do you want me to say?'

'How about the truth, for once.'

There was along and heavy pause between them and only when Bobby dropped his eyes from John's face to the ground, he could begin to talk.

'I'm afraid. I've been afraid since I woke up and discovered that I had frozen over my alarm clock. Mutants were a taboo for my parents just like homosexuality, or at least we never talked about it. The morning I found out that I was a mutant too, I kind of saw my life flashing in front of my eyes: my family would desert me, my friends wouldn't recognize me on the street, and so on. My parents still don't know what I am and the thing with Rogue; well I guess that was my last attempt at normalcy. Doesn't work out though, I just can't you get out of my head. And to be honest I don't want you out of my head.' Bobby made a move as if to lean against one of the walls but John grabbed his arm before he touched it and yanked him back.

Bobby just let himself fall onto the ground, where John joined him and put an arm around him. His head leaned against Bobby's as he said:

'It's as you said: we're in this together.'