Beautiful Ruins

Chapter 24

"Turn right" Clover instructs me, looking down at her phone. "Then left." I roll my eyes; I've told her like ten times that I know the way, but she insists on telling me each turn which is really annoying.

"Where are you heading next?" I ask Clover, glancing briefly over at her. Clover has pinned the front bits of her hair back and is still glancing down at the map on her phone.

I look back to the road, looking at all the houses surrounding us. What would it have been like growing up without powers, living somewhere like here? I don't really know what growing up normal would be like but the idea of going to school, making friends, maybe joining a sport team sounds appealing.

"I'm not sure, I never make plans" Clover replies, looking over at me. "Why, are you going to miss me?" She asks playfully. I smile, I think I will miss Clover once she's gone.

"You're always welcome to come back" I tell her earnestly. "I think I quite like you." There's just something about Clover, I'm not even sure what it is but I want her to stay.

Clover laughs slightly at my remark and glances out the window. I wonder if she's thinking about the same things as me. Clover's never had a home, she's always been on the move. I couldn't imagine growing up like that, even if Mystique never actually cared about me, I grew up believing she did, I never felt like I was alone with no one to turn to or confide in.

I glance at a two-story red-brick house, two young girls who look around five or six are playing on the front lawn, their parents sitting in chairs watching them play. The girls are splashing each other with water, both giggling as they play. One has long curly red hair while the other is a brunette. I smile before looking away, the girls look so happy and carefree while playing with the water.

"It would've been nice, wouldn't it?" Clover says almost wistfully as she glances at the same house. "I would've loved a sister." My heart pains as I remember Scarlett saying we were basically sisters, how did something so pure and simple turn into this? Both of us fighting each other in a public bathroom.

"Did you meet your parents?" I ask Clover, wondering if she was really alone from day one. I just can't fathom the thought of anyone growing up completely alone, without even one person to love and care for them. I also have no idea how Clover fending for herself lead to her deciding to break in and out of the x-men building, maybe she was stealing and selling supplies for cash.

"My dad was around for the few first years, I hardly remember him. He left for work one morning when I was four and never came back" Clover says, her voice hardening. "I got placed with two different foster families but ran away when I was seven, they weren't great parents." I want to ask what happened to Clover's dad but it's still not my place, we're not at that point yet to be trading our most private secrets.

I turn left and see a park, since it's a nice day lots of people are on the playground or sitting down and chatting to one another. If we didn't have an urgent mission, I'd be tempted to pull down and go to the park, it's something I don't think either of us have done before.

"I'm sorry" I tell Clover. I hope one day she makes her way back to Stark towers; she doesn't need to be alone forever. Friends and family are what makes life worth it, they get you through the hard parts and pull you up when you've fallen down.

I can feel my fists involuntary clenching as we get closer to our destination. The cure is probably already gone, but we'll see.

"Are you doing this to prove yourself to Steve?" Clover asks me, I avoid looking at her so I can pretend I didn't hear her. I could lie and say yes, but I wasn't naïve enough to not realise Steve was manipulating me into it, he might not actually accept me when we return, he could easily claim he found the cure himself. I just hope he stops calling me a traitor, it's getting boring and annoying and starting to make me angry.

"If Mystique or Magneto are here, we might not make it out alive, are you sure you're willing to come?" I ask Clover, I do need all the help I can get but I don't want Clover to get hurt or worse. Magneto and Mystique are brilliant fighters and they've taught me all I know; they know my strengths and weaknesses.

"I'm coming" Clover says firmly just as I park my car at the edge of the forest. Now we just have to find the cave and hope nobody else is around. I get out of the car and walk forward, Clover stands next to me, a knife in her hand.

We walk slowly, both of us afraid to even step on a twig in case anyone's around. I glance around the trees, the tree to my right has bark that's beginning to peel off. I'm almost tempted to pick up a stick to use a weapon, but I know my powers are my weapon, even if I've been trained in combat and know how to fight, nothing compares to my powers.

We walk past a massive tree, and both stop as we see a cave. Once we enter, there's no turning back until we have the cure, even if there's someone waiting inside for us, I just hope to God it's not Scarlett.

"Ready?" Clover asks me quietly and I nod, despite all the nerves building up in my stomach. We walk over to the cave, it's pitch-black inside and we can't see forward, I guess we'll just have to trust that the cure is inside.

I practically jump out of my skin when something flashes in front of my eyes, and I have to bite down on my lip to stop myself from screaming, we cannot afford for anyone to hear us coming.

"It's probably a rat, get a hold of yourself" Clover hisses. I'd rather deal with a rat than Mystique, that's for sure. I don't normally get creeped out by small animals and insects but it's kind of nerve-wrecking heading somewhere not sure if there's someone waiting for you.

A small glow of light begins to appear, a blue light. I think it's a reflection, I glance at Clover who's looking at me. She nods, confirming my thoughts. The cure must be close, what else would be lighting up the cave?

Clover quickens her pace, so I do, too. The blue light is getting bigger and stronger so we must be near the cure. There are no sounds other than our footsteps, I can't believe we must have beat the x-men here, I was half expecting the cure to be completely gone.

I glance at the cave walls, but the only light is the blue glow. I wince as I step in what I think must be mud. Of course, it had to be a stupid, dark cave of all places to hide a cure, it couldn't be in, like, an abandoned building or something like that.

My eyes widen as I see a blue liquid in a vial, we've found the cure. Clover stops suddenly, causing me to almost bump into her. I glance around and my heart sinks as I see Scarlett to my left, holding a blue vial, she must've designed an identical cure so we wouldn't know the real one had been destroyed.

I glance to my right and my heart jumps as I see Mystique. Of course it's the two of them, they're both counting on the fact they're willing to kill me and I'm not willing to kill them.

"Leave now and we won't harm you, you're not a threat" Scarlett says to Clover. Clover glances at me and I nod, there's no need for Clover to be harmed now, if she can make a run for it she should. Clover glances back at Scarlett and then at Mystique.

"No" Clover declares, pulling out a knife and rushing at Scarlett. My eyes widen but I don't have time to process what Clover is doing as Mystique lunges at me, pushing me against the cave wall.

*Author's Note* I think everyone knows Clover and Storm like each other except Storm and Clover.