Black Frost // John Proudstar

0.9 cold blooded

Before the rest of the house was awake, John went to look for Akira. She hadn't come back inside since the conversation he saw her have with Lorna last night but all her stuff was still in her room. John knew she wouldn't leave without the bear, Winter, that young Maya had given Akira and there hadn't been any news reports of a fast moving iceberg heading north so John thought it was safe to bet that Akira was somewhere nearby, unsure if she should stay or leave. 

As John  pushed open the door, he heard someone come up behind. Glancing back, John saw Riley who was stirring sugar into his tea slowly. "If she's still outside there's a 68.4% chance you're going to convince her to stay." John smiled a little.

"Thanks Riley." John said, walking outside and closing the door behind him. Riley sipped his tea slowly and started to walk back to his room.

"And an 88.5% chance she's staying just because she likes you." But John, even with his enhanced hearing, did not hear Riley mutter this under his breath from twenty feet away. John was too concentrated on the thought of Akira and where she might be. It didn't take a genius to figure out where she was though, she had left a fairly obvious trail of blackened plants and frosted trees. John pursed his lips. He had only seen her turn plants this color when she was agitated. 

As he moved farther into the forest, the trees thickened and so did the frost until eventually he stumbled on a tiny winter wonderland in the middle of Georgian Summer. There was a fair dusting of snow on the ground. Icicles hung from trees, branches were thick with ice and snow. The sunlight just peeking up in the distance illuminated the entire space and sitting down in the middle of it all, in a bed of snow, was Akira. She looked cold as ice, snow and ice covering her face, clothes and seemingly keeping her pinned to the ground. Her legs were crossed, hands on her knees. She almost looked like she was in a trance.

John moved towards Akira slowly, not wanting to startle her. He watched her breath out, an icy breath of air escaping her mouth and just like that, everything around them began to melt. The icicles dripped away, disappearing. The snow melted away into the ground, leaving puddles of water here and there. The ice and snow covering Akira looked like they were being absorbed back into her skin and her clothes but she wasn't drenched in water like John expected.  Finally, something incredible happened. The blackened leaves, grass and flowers all began to regain their color and life as Akira unfroze them. When she opened her eyes to look at John, her irises were ice blue.

"You've gotten better at that." 

"I'm going home John." Akira replied, standing up slowly. "I knew you would come out here eventually. I wanted to ask you to bring me my stuff from inside the house. I... I can't go back in there." 

"Yuki nobody hates you for what you did or is afraid..."

"Well I'm afraid John, okay? I'm afraid." John sighed as Akira turned away from him. "I can't stay here any longer. I'm dangerous. I can't control my powers and..."

"You seemed to be doing fine just now."

"I've been practicing all night." Akira muttered under her breath. "A couple of hours of training isn't going to help me." 

"Yes it can, you've just proved that." Akira shook her head. She didn't know why she was even arguing with him. She needed to put her foot down. She needed to leave, with or without all the things she wanted to take back to her ice shelf with her. "I told you that you need happy memories to help you control your powers. You can't create those by yourself Yuki." 

"I was happy out there John. I was away from people so I wouldn't have to worry about hurting them. I had books and magazines and the polar bears to keep me company. If I wasn't happy out there don't you think I would've tried to come back to civilization? To find a new home?" 

"Yuki..." John could feel the temperature lowering. Snow began to trickle down around them slightly. 

"I'm a monster John. I'm exactly the kind of mutant that the rest of the world is afraid of and they should be afraid because I can't control this." Akira let out a half exasperated shout and clenched her hand next to her head, forming a fist and stopping the flurry of snow that she was creating around them.

"Yuki please..." John said, taking a couple steps towards her but Akira backed away.

"Just... Just stop John. It doesn't matter. I'll just leave. I don't need any of that stuff anyways." Akira says under her breath, turning away. John grabs her hand. "John let go of me." Akira says icily, glaring daggers at him with her blue eyes. 

"I know you're scared Yuki but you can't just keep running away. You're a good person, people here like you." Akira snorted. She was pretty sure Lorna didn't care that much for her. "The underground could benefit from having you on our side."

"Because of my powers." Akira said bitterly.

"No, because you're one of the most selfless people I've ever met." Akira felt him squeeze her hand.

"Why do you want me here? I don't understand John." Akira whispered, looking back at him. Tears were silently streaking down her face.

"Because you belong here, with us." That's what Akira always wanted, a place to belong. She always thought that that was in the arctic. That she belonged with ice and snow and solitude. But as much as she loved the place she had spent the last decade of her life, she longed for something more. 

"You don't even know me." Akira said, looking away from John, trying not to think about the fact that they were virtually holding hands. If John knew who Akira was, he wouldn't want her anywhere near him or the Mutant Underground.

"Then tell me more about you." Akira said nothing, just slowly puller her hand out of John's. 

"I'm cutting my time limit in half." John arched an eyebrow at her. "One week to learn control or I'll leave."

"Yuki..."

"One week John and I'm not going back inside. It's safer for me to stay out here away from everyone."

"A week and a half and you have to sleep inside Yuki." 

"I don't have to do anything John. One week. If you think I can learn some semblance of control, then that's all I'm giving us." Akira nearly blushed as she referred to them as 'us'. John sighed.

"Yuki you have to stop being afraid of everything. Nothing is going to.."

"Happen?" Akira demanded. John sighed. "How do you know that John? How do you know?" John didn't answer because he didn't know. "I could be a cold blooded killer John. Did you ever think of that?"

"You're not."

"How do you know?" Akira said again. John looked deep into her eyes so Akira knew he meant it.

"Because I can see it in your eyes. You're a good person Yuki." Akira wanted to correct him, wanted to tell him her real name but she kept her mouth shut.

"Fine." Akira said, dropping her gaze. "But I think you need glasses John." Akira said, turning around and walking away. "I'm not a good person." John didn't know how to argue with her and so he watched her walk away.