Layla

Chapter Eight: Stryker

"What the hell?" Layla thought as she tried to steady herself.

Her eyes were looking at the mansion that was destroyed and burnt down. Flames still flickered in the air as smoke wafted in the air. The smokey air filled Layla's lungs, and she coughed trying to clear her lungs. With dizzy eyes, Layla looked around the front of the school, seeing that she wasn't the only one outside. The whole school, including Hank were outside, as well. Some students had ash on their face, coughing as they tried to get the smoke out of their lungs. Everyone had the same shocked look as her, while they tried to get their bearings together.

"How?" Layla thought, but then she realized the one person who could have done this, and get everyone out safely.

There was only one Speedy she knew, and he carried her out of the burning building. Layla's stomach dropped, and her chest felt heavy. Her heart ached, but she pushed the pain aside, looking for him. Turning around, Layla spotted Peter, and he stood across the way staring at her. Layla stopped breathing for a second, taking in the sight of Peter. It was like she was seeing him for the time, and the funny thing was, she kind of was. After all, it had been nine years since she last saw him. He still looked the same, though, he did appear older; more mature. His wacky style remained still. He wore a dark silver leather jacket, reminding her of the silver jacket he wore during their break in at the Pentagon. Layla liked the one he wore now. The color looked good on him, and she liked the style. The jacket was silver, but was lined in black starting at the base of the neck, going down to the end of the jacket. There were two zippers on each side of the jacket, and zippers that lined the sleeves of the jacket. His silver hair had gotten darker. It was still short, but it was longer in the back, stopping at the base of his neck. Underneath the silver jacket, Layla spotted a Rush shirt that he was wearing. Her eyes travelled down, looking at the leather silver pants he was wearing, and the silver Nike sneakers he wore. His whole outfit was silver except for his shirt.

Layla took one last look, before she looked back up at Peter. The leather pants suited him nicely. Layla liked that, but she stopped, pulling herself together. Her eyes went to a dull purple when she looked up at him, again. However, she stopped it, and let them fade to brown. She missed Peter, and all she felt was sadness and guilt.

"I fucked up." Layla thought numbly.

She lost nine years with him, but it was for his own good. She knew he would remain with her, and she couldn't risk him dying because of her. Wiping his memories of her away was the only solution. She couldn't ask him to leave her alone. That wasn't him. She had already tried pushing him away several times, and he kept coming back. Peter looked away from her, and she saw the pain in his eyes.

"Does he remember?" She thought painfully.

Snapping out of her melancholy thoughts, she returned to the matter at hand. The mansion was burned down, Charles was gone, and she was injured. She removed her hand from her wound, lifting the side of her shirt up. The wound was still open, and bleeding heavily. The skin was slowly closing back together, and she grumbled to herself. The wound wasn't closing fast enough for Layla. She needed it to close, so that she could get Charles, and kick Erik's ass for taking him. Then she would move on to the asshole that decided to throw the metal wing at her destroying her favorite jacket. Or perhaps she'd go after him first. She couldn't decide yet.

"She's the one. It's her." A student whispered. "Is she gonna help us?" Another student asked.

Students began looking at Raven who had turned into her blue form. They recognized her as Mystique. The woman who saved the President, and mutants. Layla didn't know, until she got to know Hank better, but those Sentinels? The one Trask was building? Yeah, apparently Logan was sent from the future to prevent the Sentinels from being built because in the future they wiped mutants from the world. Raven had saved the President from Magento, and the Sentinel program was destroyed. She showed the world that not all mutants were like Magneto.