Friendships and Alliances, a MARVEL Fanfic

Peter?

"Peter!" Amara screamed as she saw the wreckage that was once Professor Alistaire's School. Flaming up, she walked through the smoldering double doors and sighed in relief. There were the students, huddled against the wall, scared but so far uninjured. "Peter?" She asked them. One of them, Amara recognized him as Battery, shook his head. "He was fighting the metal-armed man. We don't know where he is now." She flamed up again. "You kids get out of here. Go to Professor X's. Hank's there. He'll convince the Professor to take you in. You won't be turned down, I promise." Ear stepped up. "What about Peter? He saved our lives." Amara looked around. "I'll look for him. Go!"

"Peter?" Amara rounded another corner. "Peter answer me!" Her heart pumped hard in her chest. "Help..." She thought she heard a soft voice from a deserted corridor, and as she rushed down it she prayed; this was obviously the scene of the fight-doors were smashed down and there were scorch marks and bullets peppering the walls. "Peter?" She asked. "Mara." There was no mistaking her nickname. Rushing into a dorm room, she heard labored breathing. "Peter? Peter!" "Over...here...please..." "Shit! Peter!" Amara saw him pinned underneath a bedframe. "Oh my God!" Peter was still as she burnt the bedframe into small pieces and threw them off of him. He was in a bad state. His silver hair was covered in blood from his still-bleeding cheek and vomit. "You were sick?" She asked, helping him into a painful sitting position. His body shook uncontrollably. "The pain." He explained, wiping his mouth grimly with his arm. "Your jacket." Amara said, looking around. "He ripped it off me." "He?" "The guy with the metal left arm." The two were silent for a moment, and then they both leaned forwards and hugged tightly. "I was so worried." Mara said. Peter took a shuddering breath and she realized he was holding back tears. "He was too good, Mara." Peter said, voice quivering. "He was just a human but it was like he could tell where I was going to end up..." She started to rub his back, squeezing him tightly, but he yelled and gagged as his body convulsed in severe pain. "Peter!" She let go of him and he thumped to the ground on his back, unable to support himself. Agony coursed through his broken body, and he had just enough strength to raise his hands to his face and sob. "Peter!" Amara's hands hovered over him, unsure of how to help her beaten boyfriend. "Hold on." She flamed up and flew away, and came back as soon as she could holding antiseptic, a damp washcloth, and bunches of gauze bandages. "How much do you like this shirt?" She asked him. He tilted his chin down. "This one? Not much why?" "Good." She grabbed the seam of it and it fell to ashy pieces. Blowing the rest of the ash away, Mara gasped. "Oh Peter. Oh...oh my God." Brushburns and immense purple bruises splotched across Peter's pale skin. "I told you..." Peter struggled to say. "He knew where I was going to be. He called my shots. He-" Peter coughed and held his ribs. "My chest..." "I think one of your ribs is broken." Mara pressed lightly on Peter's torso and watched as he spasmed from pain. "Maybe two." Soaking the washcloth in antiseptic, Amara watched sadly as Peter gritted his teeth in anticipation of pain. "Peter, listen. I'm sorry about this." "What?" Amara jabbed a needle into Peter's forearm and Peter passed out. Suddenly, the floor creaked, and Mara froze. "Hello? Amara?" Peter groaned, pale face pasty, and the door creaked open. "Who is it?" She asked, trying to keep her voice from wavering. "Amara!" A slim, gangly figure walked into the room. "Hank!" Amara sighed in relief as Hank McCoy knelt beside her. "Professor X took in the students. I came here to find you." Hank motioned concernedly to Peter, who was trembling feverishly. "It was the only way he'd lie still. I found it in the infirmary." Amara held up a small bottle of morphine and a syringe. "Damn." Hank took the gauze in hand. "Tell me what to do."

Peter awoke 45 minutes later with a pounding headache. "Fuck..." He groaned and tried to prop himself up on one elbow, but he felt his ribs grate together and was momentarily paralyzed by the pain. Laying on his back and feeling his face shakily with one hand, he realized his cheek was bandaged, and looking down he saw his chest was too. "Peter!" He heard Amara's voice and she ran into the room, face red from crying and eyes wide in tearful relief. "You're awake!" She knelt beside him and tried to hug him, but he held up his hands and looked at her weirdly. "You drugged me." Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry it was the only way you wouldn't feel any pain when we cleaned your wounds!" She started to cry, wrenching Peter's heart. "I'm sorry it was the only way!" Peter wrenched himself upright and leaned against the bedframe, and then he looked at her without saying a word. "Peter-" He held open his arms and she gently went into them, running her hands through his silver hair the way she knew he liked. He noticed his hair was cleaner, too. "Mara..." "Shhh." She said, putting a finger against his lips. "Peter." She whispered. Peter looked down again at his bandaged chest. "You did all this for me. You left Victor...for me..." "Wanna know why?" Mara whispered. "Why?" Peter answered, eyes staring at her lips. "Because I love you!" Amara started to laugh and Peter gingerly pulled her into a hug and kissed her lips. She returned the kiss, but softly, gently-his lips were bruised purple from being punched-instead of hurting...it was sweet and tender and felt like the nicest thing he'd ever experienced. "Oh Amara..." He moaned. She ran her fingers as far as she could through his bloodstained hair and lay a hand gently on his chest, pushing him away. "Amara, I got..." Hank walked in and blushed. "Coffee and a doughnut for Peter. It's not the conventional home remedy but it's all I had time to get." "Thanks. Oh! Hank McCoy, Peter Maximoff, my boyfriend. Peter, Hank McCoy, my dear old friend." Amara introduced them. "Hey." Peter said shakily-the pain was coming back. He held out a hand for the food, but Hank gave the donut and coffee to Amara. "You're not strong enough." She explained. "I can do it." Amara relented and gave the coffee to Peter, but after a moment of watching the liquid tremble and splash in its container he gave it back to her. "I hate being wea-" Peter grabbed his ribs and coughed a gob of blood out. He looked at the blood in fear, wiping his mouth, but he felt Amara's hands on his shoulders, massaging and soothing him. "It's okay Peter." She tilted the coffee cup so the hot liquid flowed down his throat and warmed the bottom of his stomach, and then sat next to him and started to comb through his hair with her fingers. "Who was the metal-armed man?" Hank asked Peter. "He just came out of nowhere. I got here and Alistaire had just...disappeared. He started to go for the other students but I drew him away over here. And he beat me up...I blacked out and the next thing I know Amara's calling my name." "Metal-armed...metal..." Amara mused. Suddenly it all became clear. "OH MY GOD METAL!" She put a hand on Peter's shoulder, making him cry out but she seemed not to notice. "Did this guy's arm look like weird metal? Like something you've never seen before?" "Y-yeah." Peter said, vaguely scared at her outburst. "Why?" Hank asked. "Because before I left Victor he said he smelled weird metal. I thought he was scared and we had a fight, and he was saying something about metal as I left. I don't know what he was going to say.

We need to get back to him."

~Hey, all my wonderful readers! I tried to make this chapter a little longer for you.

So the plot twist is starting, do you see it?

This was my favorite chapter to write, I hope you loved reading it!~