This was written for a fic album challenge at LJ community Phase&Fire, and the song is Death Cab For Cutie's "Brothers on a Hotel Bed".

Warning: ANGST! This is probably the darkest I have ever written Kyro! I hope you enjoy reading.

Don't Save Us from the Flames

You may tire of me as our December sun is setting
'Cause I'm not who I used to be

She found him. After weeks of endless searching, Kitty Pryde had found the one man who could possibly make her feel whole again. One person can only take so much death, and anguish, and the pain of war, and it had started to take its toll on the Shadowcat. Back at the mansion she had had enough of Bobby, of Rogue, and Piotr. She was sick of the sad faces, sick of the half-hearted encouraging speeches that Ororo and Logan tried to drill into her, sick of the news broadcasts that spoke of nothing but turmoil. She needed some release, and had turned to an unlikely source, which happened to be standing in the middle of a drab and desolate alleyway besides the San Francisco bay. The sun was beginning to descend in the horizon and was causing the light to scatter in all directions, creating an intense orange-red glare to stain the sky.

No longer easy on the eyes
These wrinkles masterfully disguise the youthful boy below

It seemed that in the space of only twelve months Pyro had aged ten years. Just moments of escaping with Magneto and Mystique at Alkali Lake he was no longer the notorious, cheeky fire-starter from Xavier's, he became a fully-fledged member of the Brotherhood, with a temperament to match the fire in which he wielded – destructive, dangerous, intense and out of control. It was clear to Bobby Drake when they crossed paths at the cure clinic that Pyro had left his old self far behind. His features had hardened, his hair dyed and in need of moisture, his clothes tattered and unclean. And his eyes – Bobby had noted his eyes did not hold that certain mischievous glow that they used to. They were cold and haunting. Yes, it was true; there was nothing in Pyro's appearance that reminded Bobby of his old friend, John Allerdyce.

Who turned your way and saw something he was not looking for
Both a beginning and an end

Pyro saw Kitty standing at the edge of the quay, the wind tossing and messing up her brown hair, the darkening sky and violent sea creating a contrasting backdrop; however Kitty almost looked as miserable as the scenery did with her sunken, tired eyes and defeated posture. Not at all like the Kitty he remembered from the Institute several years ago. Somehow, however hard he tried, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. This isn't good, he told himself. A heavy bout of nostalgia hit him and he recalled a time when they had been together… and in love, he mused, his face screwing up in disgust at the memory. He couldn't have this. She had no right to be here now, not when it was over between them.

But now he lives inside someone he does not recognize
When he catches his reflection on accident

He began to walk towards her, and Kitty started doing the same. Pyro looked at one of the cars parked along the dark alleyway and as he passed it, caught his reflection in the window, revealing unwashed bleached blonde hair with hints of the natural colour returning, tired, angry deep hazel eyes, and a sallow colour tinging his skin from malnutrition. He was dirty, cold, and hungry. He barely recognised himself. And the last person he wanted to see him was a certain Miss. Pryde.

"What the hell do you want?" he addressed her bluntly when they met somewhere near a black spiral stairwell that connected to the side of a building. Kitty seemed indifferent, like she had expected him to be brash. She took a deep breath, as if considering her words before saying,

"I came to see you."

Pyro raised an eyebrow, and then smirked. "Well, take a good look, Kitty-cat, because this is all I got." He spread out his arms and turned around slowly, showing her how thin and ill he looked.

"I don't see anything amusing about how you look," Kitty said after Pyro had turned back to face her, a stupid grin on his face.

"Oh, I disagree. I'm positively overjoyed that you've come to visit me." His voice was dripping with sarcasm yet Kitty seemed not to hear it, or chose to ignore it.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way," she began, "because I need to ask you something…" She swallowed nervously.

"Shoot, Kitty-cat, I'm all ears." Pyro was thoroughly enjoying himself. How could you be so oblivious?

"I've… I've got money. I c-could get something for you. I could take care of y-" Kitty stuttered and didn't dare finish the sentence. Pyro stared at her blankly for the longest of seconds, and then he answered her.

"Think you can save me, Kitten? Think you can rescue me?" He let out a bitter, callous laugh and shook his head. "No. Not even someone intangible like you can faze me." He took a couple of steps towards her, and Kitty took a few steps back on instinct.

"I…" Kitty began, but found the harshness of his words hitting her like a ton of bricks. She was finding it hard to breathe.

"You're still so fucking naïve! Didn't you learn anything from Alcatraz? Didn't you?" Pyro sneered, and promptly took a lighter out of his pocket and set a steady stream of intoxicating flames towards a nearby skip filled with rubbish. The whole thing set alight immediately, and Pyro grinned, his veins filling with an intense, exhilarating feeling. Fire was the only thing that had kept him going during the darker times of his life with the Brotherhood. It was combustible, and succumbed to his needs; it was the essence of his very being and he was consumed by it.

"John…" Kitty said quietly, although her voice was glazed with a serious undertone. She moved away from the extreme heat to stand besides a run-down building on the opposite side of the alley.

"Who's John?" Pyro said, looking around mockingly as if she had been addressing somebody else. Then he added in a rather sarcastic tone, "What was his name again? Allerdyce? That's it! Thanks for reminding me Kitty-cat, of somebody who doesn't exist." He snickered.

'Cause now we say goodnight
From our own separate sides
Like brothers on a hotel bed

"I thought… I thought you might have…" Kitty began nervously, but she was interrupted.

"Changed?" Pyro offered. He let a small smirk caress his features, but then it was gone and his eyes seemed to turn a darker shade of brown. "You think I've changed, do you?" Before Kitty could react, or even phase out of the way, Pyro had grabbed her by the arms and slammed her forcefully against a corrugated iron garage door. Kitty winced as Pyro pinned her against the metal, his body pressing firmly against hers and his mouth contorting into a most horrific smile as he leant in close to her ear threateningly.

"I'm never going to change, Pryde, so get lost or get used to it," he whispered spitefully, a glint of malice in his once playful hazel eyes. "You don't mean anything to me anymore." He didn't need her, he didn't want her. She was nothing to him now. The allure of the flame was far more enticing and it was all Pyro knew; Kitty didn't fit into the equation of his life any longer.

Kitty struggled against him and Pyro chuckled cruelly in her ear. He started a trail of hard, desperate kisses along her jaw line until he found her mouth, and crashed his lips against hers. Kitty tried desperately to push him away but Pyro tightened his grip on her, and kissed her harder, teeth clashing and Kitty tasted the sourness of her own blood. She shuddered at the repulsive feeling of his tongue down her throat, and when Pyro went to place a hand under the waistband of her jeans she knew he had gone too far. Before he could continue the ordeal she had managed to phase out of his grip and ran to the edge of the street, shaking.

The sky had streaked an intense crimson as the sun completed its path behind the horizon as she stared at him, stunned and confused, cold, salty tears leaving streaks down her pale face. She had thought he could change, but she had been wrong. Pyro would never change. He was in far too deep and she knew now that there was no chance of redemption. The normally agile Shadowcat was too shocked to run away as she was frozen to the spot, unmoving. Her legs gave way beneath her due to her choked sobs and shaking figure, and Pyro's long strides reached her in almost no time at all.

"I hope you're satisfied, Kitten," he said softly to her as he planned to violate her very existence, towering over her ominously, "because it's not over until I'm satisfied."

You may tire of me as our December sun is setting
'Cause I'm not who I used to be

END