"If there's an Ashton clone, could there be more clones?" I ask Henry, disliking the idea of another me running around. Is there a Henry clone too? My mind flickers to Scarlett, could I kill a robotic clone that looks just like my deceased best friend?
"I'm not sure" Henry answers, glancing at Peter who shrugs. "Leave the clones to me, okay? I'll tell you whenever I learn anything useful." The exhaustion must be hitting me because I nod quickly, genuinely happy to leave this to Henry. I blink, I need to do something before I just give up. Maybe I should talk to Tony.
"In more exciting news, it's your birthday a few days" Peter answers, I blink. He's right, I'd almost forgotten I had a birthday. I'll be sixteen, the same age as Peter, Ned, and MJ. Henry recently turned seventeen, just a few weeks before we ran into each other again.
"Who cares?" I reply, Clover's dead, Scarlett's dead, and the x-men are still terrorising everybody. Oh yeah and there's a reward for my capture or death, I can't see much to celebrate.
Peter and Henry glance at each other, communicating with something more than just words, it's a reflection of how much their bond has grown. I'm glad I'm not the jealous type, I'm just glad that they're getting on.
"You'll care when you see what we planned" Peter replies, glancing at me. If it's a massive party I might burn it down, I'm really not in the mood to celebrate. "Chill, it's not a party."
"It's better than that" Henry adds, I decide to leave it with them, Henry knows me well enough to be able to plan something I won't hate, and Peter knows how I'm feeling at the moment, he knows Clover's death is weighing heavily on me.
"Storm, is there anything we can do?" Peter asks gently, his eyes filled with concern and sympathy. "I heard you screaming last night."
"I've been waking up screaming from nightmares for ages, that's nothing new" I reply, sometimes it's Scarlett dying, sometimes it's my loved ones being killed and it's all my fault, sometimes it's that stupid simulation, and sometimes it's replaying the torture I experienced. The only time I haven't woken up from nightmares is when Charles stayed in my room and blocked them out of my mind, I frown. He didn't even know me when he did that, he had no reason to care.
"I know about your nightmares, I just want you to know that I care about you and I'm really sorry I can't do anything to make it better" Peter says, reaching across and squeezing my hand. I give Peter a grateful smile, he's one of the best people I know.
"I appreciate that" I say, I glance at Henry as well. "I appreciate both of you, and I'm always here for you."
"We know, you're like the most loyal person in existence" Henry answers, walking over and placing his hand on my shoulder.
"I have to go see MJ, apparently we're leaving tomorrow" Peter says, giving me a quick hug before heading out of the room. Henry flops down next to me on the couch, I glance over at him, suddenly feeling so grateful that Henry came back to me.
"Are you okay?" Henry asks me seriously, raising an eyebrow. Henry knows me too well, I can't and won't lie to him.
"I'm dealing with it" I decide to say, I'm more attempting to figure out how to deal with everything, but that's irrelevant. "Are you?"
"I miss Scarlett and Ash" Henry admits, fiddling with the ring on the chain around his neck, that ring should be on Scarlett's finger. "I know Scarlett was complicated, but I loved her more than anything." Henry loved Scarlett, he had a crush on her the second we all met, and it only grew and turned into love over the years, Scarlett would rarely admit it, but she returned his feelings, the two would offer sneak away and hang out the two of them.
"We knew the risks, but I never thought two of us would be dead before my sixteenth birthday" I say, the missions we were sent on were risky and there was always a chance we'd be killed, but the four of us were good, we were great.
"Ironically we were safer with the x-men" Henry says darkly. He glances at me. "But we had to leave, I wasn't going to kill innocent people and neither you were."
"Henry, I wanted to come back for all of you, I did, but then I ran into Scarlett and-"
"You don't have to explain, Storm, besides I wouldn't have come with you at the time" Henry interrupts me. "I wouldn't have believed you; we were so brainwashed."
I nod in agreement, I wouldn't have believed the avengers if there wasn't video proof and once, they revealed the truth, I just kept thinking about things that didn't add up.
"We'll stop them" I say, from the moment I found out I vowed to stop them, to make sure more kids don't go through what I did. "I'll stop them."
*Author's Note* Henry, Storm, and Peter are one of my fave trios in the book.
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Beautiful Ruins
Action"Maybe there was a fleeting moment where I wanted to be a hero and believed I could be one, but the truth is I'm not, I won't ever be. My past does define me, it made me a villain" - Storm. Fifteen-year-old Storm is the daughter of Black Widow and I...
