1. Chapter 1

Pyro woke up with a start. He was used to nightmares, but this one had been bad. It was made worse by waking up in an unfamiliar place. Pyro got out of bed to get a glass of water. He would have preferred something better, but he figured water was the only thing he could get. Things were pretty minimalistic at Magneto's base. He still was evaluating his decision to leave the X-Men, but he had to admit he missed Xavier's mansion. He had learned the hard way not to complain about the lack of amenities at Magneto's base. He had made that mistake his first morning there by complaining about breakfast. Magneto had made a remark about young people nowadays scoffing at free food, which Pyro had to admit did make him look ungrateful. He was thankful Magneto had seen that he could be a good ally and accepted him into his ranks. He didn't get respect like that from Xavier. Magneto viewed all mutants, regardless of age, as powerful. He decided it would be best not to complain about the uncomfortable cot.

When Pyro entered the kitchen, he was startled to see Magneto there.

"You're up late, Pyro. I know teenagers often stay up late, but I thought you would be tired."

"Couldn't sleep. I was just grabbing some water."

"Why not have some tea. That's what I'm making for myself."

"We have more than just water here? That would have been nice to know."

"We're not as rich as Charles here. But I do like to keep some extra things for when they're needed. Would you like a cup? It will help you fall asleep again. We have a hard day tomorrow."

"Yes. Thanks."

"You miss things at the mansion, don't you?"

"No. Not at all." Pyro was lying. But he didn't want to give the impression of disloyalty. He felt a little excluded being the newest, and youngest, member of Magneto's Brotherhood. He didn't think Mystique liked him, but then again, she only seemed to like Magneto. Magneto didn't have a great love of young people. Sabertooth and Toad seemed indifferent to him.

"Don't lie, Pyro. It's understandable. You had friends there. You spent so much time rooting for their cause and against mine."

"No! That's not it at all. I just miss the mansion." That was a bit of a lie. He did miss his friends. He wished Bobby had come with him.

Magneto was pleased. He was wary of taking in mutants from Charles' school. He appreciated what Charles had done for mutantkind, and of course still valued his friendship, but the children that came out of there were often still at least a little dedicated to his precious X-Men.

"Is that why you couldn't sleep?"

Pyro didn't like where this conversation was headed. One thing he has always hated about Xavier's school was how touchy-feely everyone could be, especially Xavier. He knew it was likely a function of his telepathy, but it didn't make it any less annoying. So far no one in the Brotherhood had bothered to ask him anything personal, which he liked. He figured he should get this over with.

"No. Nightmare."

"Are you alright?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Are you sure I wouldn't? Why do you think I'm awake right now?"

This struck Pyro weirdly. It was hard for him to picture the powerful mutant and charismatic leader having a nightmare. It seemed out of character.

"I didn't think about it."

"I had them nearly every night when I was your age. They do lessen with time."

"What's your excuse?"

Pyro immediately regretted his comment when he saw the look on Magneto's face. It wasn't really a look of anger, so much as a look that implied he thought Pyro was stupid for asking. He didn't quite understand why. Then Magneto rolled up his left sleeve and showed Pyro his left forearm. Pyro was stunned for a moment. He had studied the Holocaust in school. Xavier's history lessons always had a special focus on it as an example of why tolerance is important. But Pyro had never met anyone who had been there before. He had no idea Magneto had been in those camps. He started calculating how young Magneto must have been when he was sent there. He realized he must have only been a boy then.

"What's yours?" Magneto had replied. Pyro couldn't tell what Magneto's intention with that remark was, but he felt ashamed. His "excuse" (a word he now realized was harsh, given the circumstances) had been from his childhood too. Pyro's parents had been unkind, especially the day they found out was a mutant, which was what his nightmare had been about. They kicked him out. He had always thought his life had been so miserable. He had always compared himself with Bobby and Kitty who had kind parents. But, though his parents weren't kind, Pyro had always had three meals a day. He had friends. He always had a roof over his head, shoes on his feet, and a lot of other good conditions that he had been able to take for granted. He never had to fear for his life or do without anything he had needed. Compared to what Magneto had probably gone through in the camps, he didn't feel like he had a right to complain.

"Doesn't matter."

The two fell into silence. Magneto seemed content to sip his tea, but Pyro didn't like uncomfortable silences.

"What was it like?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know." Pyro pointed at the number on Magneto's arm. "In the camps. We studied it in school. Was it really that bad?"

Once again, Pyro regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. He knew it was probably a stupid question. He expected Magneto's face to reflect disappointment in his stupidity again, but what he really saw was pain.

"I don't know what you studied in school, but I can tell you it was worse. You may have studied the conditions of the camps, but you can't study fear like that, or grief, or the sheer hatred those madmen had for us. I have no doubt Charles taught you as well as he could, but there are some things a history lesson can't teach."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry for what those creeps put you through." Pyro didn't really know what to say.

"It's alright, Pyro. That's why I do this, you know. Charles thinks my methods are too extreme, but he doesn't know what it's like. That's my goal: that mutantkind will never have to understand what that's like. Mutants should never have to suffer the way my people suffered then. I was too young to use my gift to save myself and my family then. I couldn't do anything to stop them then. But I will stop anyone who tries to do the same to mutants now. You were there when we had to stop Stryker. He would have done the same to us. Our methods must be extreme because theirs are too. I'm glad you don't have to understand what that suffering is like. It means I've done my job. That makes sense, doesn't it, Pyro?"

Pyro thought about it. He had been with Charles' school for so long, hearing that Magneto was the bad guy and how they had to stop him. But everything Magneto had said made sense. Maybe Magneto really was the true good guy.

"Yes."

"I'm glad. But now you need to go back to bed. Sleep well tonight, Pyro. Tomorrow won't be an easy day without sleep."

Pyro went back to bed. He didn't completely know how he felt about being in the Brotherhood or being away from his friends, or being one of the defenders of mutants. But for the first time since he moved in, he did know he wasn't going to leave. He also knew for a fact he shouldn't complain about his cot. Those may have been the only two things Pyro knew for sure, but he could live with that for now.


	2. Chapter 2

Mystique and Pyro were the last ones awake. They usually were. Both were night owls. They usually didn't speak to each other. Mystique thought Pyro was a dumb kid, and Pyro found her intimidating. Scary, really. Not that he'd admit that he was scared of a girl. But tonight he wanted to ask her some things. His conversation with Magneto the other night had left him with more questions than answers, and he thought Mystique could answer at least some of them.

"Can I ask you something, Mystique?"

"You just did."

"It's about Magneto. You've known him longer than anyone else here, right?"

"Yeah. I've known him for decades."

"Decades?"

Mystique rolled her eyes. She was used to the question by now, but it it still annoyed her.

"My mutation makes me look younger than I am. I met him back in the 60s. What do you want to know?"

"What happened to him? You know, in the camps."

"He doesn't like to talk about that."

"Come on, you've got to know something."

"Why don't you ask him? If he wanted you to know, he'd tell you."

"I sort of did the other night. He didn't tell me much."

"How do you 'sort of' ask what happened to someone?"

"I asked him if it was really that bad. He didn't go into details, but he said it was bad."

"You asked a Holocaust survivor if Auschwitz was really that bad? You must be dumber than I thought."

"Ok, it was a dumb question. Can you just tell me what you know?"

"He never told me that much. But I know he was experimented on."

Pyro cringed. He didn't know what the experimentation was like in Auschwitz, and he didn't want to know. He guessed it had been bad. He remembered Xavier teaching them something about a man named Dr. Mengele, but he hadn't paid much attention in history class at school. Ok, he hadn't paid too much attention in any class, but history was one of his least favorite subjects. He didn't care about the past. He focused on the present, a little too much sometimes. Dr. Grey once remarked that it fit that his power had to do with fire: he was fiery. He hadn't cared when she had told him that, but he was starting to believe it was true.

"That's sick. I hope the creep who did that to him died a painful death."

"Yeah. I don't know what they did to him, but I know it was horrible. He really hates talking about it. He only told me that to prove to me how _Homo sapiens_ want to hurt mutants. I had just left Charles. I was an idiot. A naive idiot."

Mystique hoped the boy would get the point. She knew from experience how naive Charles was, and how naive he could make his students be. He had always told her to hide her true form just in case, but he believed the best in people. He believed it was possible for mutants and humans to live in peace. He was a fool. It was easy for him to think that when he didn't have to look like a mutant. She just hoped this boy would see the truth.

"What does that have to do with mutants?"

"He first got his powers at the gate. When they saw he was a mutant they took him to be experimented on. He says they killed his mother in front of him because he was a mutant. He's the only one of us to have a decent mother and she was killed for being different. He used that story to teach me that Charles is wrong. Humans want to hurt mutants. I already knew that, but Charles led me to believe my life was an anomaly, that not all humans were like that. Magneto helped me see that most humans are and that they've always been this way."

"Ok, not everyone is like the Nazis. I mean, people can suck sometimes, but they're not all like the Nazis."

Mystique snorted out a little laugh. Maybe that's why this kid irritated her so much: maybe he reminded her of a much younger version of herself, a version she never wanted to be again. Had she been an insufferable, know-it-all, naive teenager too?

"That's what I asked him when he told me. He pointed out that most of Germany hadn't been like the Nazis either. It doesn't matter if most people are like that. It only matters if people are willing to let the lunatics take over without trying to stop them."

"Has he given you a script or something? Win over the new kid?"

Mystique just rolled her eyes. Couldn't this kid see this wasn't a game? Couldn't he see they didn't need a script because it was the truth? Pyro felt the same regret he had felt when he asked Magneto if Auschwitz had really been that bad.

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Then why did you say it like that?"

"I don't know. I just meant...I don't know what I meant."

The two of them sat in silence for a while. Pyro knew better than to break it, no matter how uncomfortable he was. He was glad when Mystique broke it.

"You miss the mansion, don't you?"

"No!"

"You're a terrible liar. I grew up there. It's ok to miss it."

"You grew up with the Professor?"

"Yeah. It's a long story. I remember how nice that mansion is. Even now that it's packed with kids, it must still be really nice. I've noticed you cringing at our food here and rubbing your back. I wondered why you stopped complaining. No one gets used to a transition like that so quickly."

"I didn't think it would make sense for a teenager who's lived in a mansion to complain about food and a cot to a Holocaust survivor."

"So, you do have a brain. If you would think before you spoke more, we wouldn't have trouble trusting you. Work in the Brotherhood is hard."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

"I don't mean it like that. I mean staying with it for longer than a little while. We're wary of teenagers. You're attracted to the flash of it. Making a difference for mutantkind, fighting, belonging to this group, being rebels only this time with a cause, it looks fun. But then the fun wears off. You realize you made a snap decision. You realize you bit off more than you're willing to chew. You realize it's not all fun. t's hard work and we don't get to see the fruits of it. Then you either run back to Xavier or just plain run. We've seen it before."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"We'll see."

With that, Mystique walked off to go to bed. Pyro couldn't sleep that night. He had to prove himself loyal to the team.

**Author's note: Sorry if this is an abrupt ending. I originally intended chapter one to be a one-shot, but then I thought of this conversation. Now I mean it when I say this story is complete.**


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