A Bond Can Face the Cold Part III
You were so beautiful, the first time he saw you. God, it’s a day he could never forget because of how simple it was. The Professor had been called away from the institute to give a speech at Columbia University on the importance of coping, vigilance, and understanding with the mutant kind in the world. Piotr had accompanied him as a form of protection if you will, a bodyguard to keep the Professor readily protected as he spoke to an entire auditorium full of undergraduate and graduate students alike. Piotr had never fared very well around large crowds, usually quiet and kept away, especially since he was born on a Soviet farm.
He was used to the other inhabitants of the mansion, simply because of his proximity to them, and he would protect the Professor with his life, which is the only reason he had even bothered to subject himself to the uncomfortable surroundings. He kept to the back of the podium, eyes staring at the Professor’s back as he crossed his arms with a stoic expression.
The Professor was mid-speech, voice ringing out so strongly despite his rather frail appearance when he felt your presence rattle his core. He has always had this uncanny ability to sense you even if the sensation was faint. With the X-Men, he’s traveled the world and the universe while still feeling your pull across time, but he had never felt it so white-hot that it burnt his skin where your name dug into the curve of his shoulder under his sweater. His gaze drew away from Professor sharply and he blinked at the various faces of the students, so many mixing together that he can’t be sure where the bond tugged at him from. He has no idea that he looks like a statue, rigid and unmoving, and you were sitting to the left of the podium, gazing at him in utter awe.
Because, God, he’s beautiful.
The speech is winding down as the professor gives his last regards to the students and with some encouraging words, Piotr catches the sight of the back of your head as you stand and it's so unexpected, so uncanny when you turn, hair flinging back, and your (E/C) eyes stare straight at him. The pull felt like a rope had twisted its way around the both of you and pulled you in. Piotr watched you fight against the current of the vast crowd as he muttered a few passing words to the professor before practically jumping from the podium. He lands easily and as big as he is, people shift away from him and give him room to reach you. You're smiling even before he towers over you, fingers trembling so much that you drop your bags.
“Piotr..” Your voice is soft, frail, and you sound nervous as your Bonded stares down at you with an intense gaze.
“(Y/N).” The accent, those eyes, his smile. The universe had to be giving you the best gift of the century.
. x .
“Are we close enough now?” Piotr calls out softly to Jean Grey, his face drained of all light. Scott had been going at high speed for hours now but the metallic giant could still feel nothing.
“Scott says we're just heading into the Arctic atmosphere so I should be able to try.” She confirms with a nod as she unbuckled her belt to stand and removed her gloves. Despite the slight turbulence, she doesn't falter in her steps as she walks quickly over to Colossus, reaching out to softly pressing her fingers against his shoulder above his hidden tattoo. He watched her close her eyes and tried to relax to let her in but his insides are twisting up with so much pain that she feels it no matter what. Despite his reaction, she seems to ease her way between his thoughts and the soft mourning over the too quiet bond.
Her mental fingers grasp at the bond, giving gentle tugs to fight away the shield that appears to be stopping the connection. Something out there had a hold of you and for some reason, did not want Piotr to know whether you were dead or alive. Only an enemy would do such a thing, Jean Grey mused in a different compartment of her brain, steadily slipping along the bond through space and time.
It’s getting colder wherever she is going, deep into the heart of Antarctica and into your very being from your placement. It’s a strange sensation, because Jean Grey does not like infringing on other people’s bonds, but it gets easier the closer the jet is to the cold. You feel out of sync with her once she feels the shortest bit of emotion from you through the bond, her mental force breaking through the blockage and unleashing a dam of emotions. They lunge at her, screeches and howls of your broken voice hitting the psychic and Colossus at the same time. Your mind is working on too many circuits, calling for Piotr with every ounce of your energy. The fear leaves a burnt taste in the back of Jean Grey’s throat as she finds it growing more difficult with each passing second to understand the quick thoughts racing through your mind and bond.
“Please... if you can hear me, please… help us. I can’t think my way out of this. I don’t know how. I don’t know what to do, but to go. I might be a monster.. Tell me what to do...
I wish you were here right now with me, maybe then I wouldn’t be so scared. Maybe then I could be stronger.
Ymir… my team is in danger….
You have to… get them home for me…
Home…”
The sound of your voice is like the first single ray of the sun, pressing into the pent up rage Piotr feels and deflating him. You sound so afraid, shaken, but there was still that hint of your determination clear in your voice.
And yet, his heart is breaking, cracking up because the way you talk through your thoughts is as if you won’t be there by the time he and the team arrives, like you know something he doesn’t and it scares the fuck out of him that he can’t see you or touch you. He reaches out to your voice, amplifying the connection through Jean Grey and radiating calm towards you.
“(Y/N), I am coming to take you home… our home. Wait for me-” His message is cut off by your quiet voice, the sadness tangible; Jean Grey isn’t sure how much longer she can endure channeling it.
“I… I love you, Piotr… You are my soul… my everything… You’ve given me… so much.”
And then you are gone, Jean Grey losing the connection as her fingers retracted from touching Piotr’s head. She could no longer carry the burden of mixed emotions, rather weakened by it and it shows when she sways on her feet, Piotr reaching out to steady her out of reflex.
“Piotr…” Jean Gray exhales, the swelling sadness in the depths of her eyes a reminder of what they both felt just before the connection faded into obscurity. You were in pain, mourning, and as dense as Piotr can be, he knows you. He knows you down to the way your nose crinkles in disgust at the sight of yellow mustard on a hotdog or how you enjoy cold showers, fresh snow, and hot chocolate, your nose a cute frostbitten pink. But the you who had spoken in his thoughts just then was someone he had never met before. The gentle giant lowers his head and presses his palm over his eyes to hide away, but everyone can see him beginning to tremble, his shoulders shaking. Despite his attempts at staying strong, Piotr is cold, his palm the only warmth he can feel from the warm tears landing on his flesh.
. x .
The Blackbird is quiet save for the sound of its wings gliding through the air and even then, it’s a soft thrum that never ends. He can’t tell how far they’ve come when her side of the Bond is still cold and biting at his fingers like frostbite. But when Jean Gray stands from his side and makes her way over to Scott, her gait more assured and careful since using her abilities, Piotr lowers his hand. He watches the way she sets her hands on Scott’s shoulders and leans in close, an intimate moment they can spare before potential danger, and murmurs softly in his ear, causing his mouth to curve up into a semblance of a smile.
They’ve always been together, always on an upward slope that faced trial after trial and near death. And yet, they still chose to keep their Bond despite the turmoil and Jean’s impending doom.. If they could face something like that, he knew that he could and would do this. He would do anything for you even if it cost him his insignificant life. After a few moments, Jean ghosted a kiss across Scott’s forehead before turning and heading back towards Piotr, her countenance soft.
“Piotr,” She said as she reclaimed her seat beside him, “Scott has located the outpost (y/n) and her team set up in and the coordinates are set. We’ll be able to pick up a better signal once we’re on the ground but we will, and I promise you, we will find her.” The reassurance in her voice is enough to bring a small spark back to his dim eyes and he’s overwhelmed once again, choosing silence over what his voice may potentially sound like now that he’s been crying and choking up. Jean Gray pats his arm gently twice as the jet began to descend. The arctic is a forest of pure white snow, drifts of it flowing by endlessly with no real sun in sight because of murky clouds. It’s exactly what he imagined you would enjoy, nothing but the cold around you as you studied the small animals that thrive and survive here. In a way, the frozen land reminds him of you because you were once cold too, once alone, and you had needed someone to see you beyond your frozen exterior. Piotr had felt privileged for being the one the universe suggested.
By the time the jet lands, everyone is in offense mode and Piotr sheds his human skin for a metal shell again, environmental cold unable to penetrate his defenses while his heart pounded wildly in his ears. He still can’t feel you completely again because of a mental block keeping him at bay, but there is a slight sensation tingling along his skin like a sixth sense. Scott is brief because he knows that Piotr won’t listen this time around and he wants to make it to ground level to start his search for you and nothing Scott says will have any effect on what he knows he needs to do. Everyone is jostled when the wheels of the plane touch base with thick snow, the entrance lowering from their position.
Piotr is the first off of the plane, the first to dig his boots into the white tufts and ignoring how high it is as he stomps his way through. There is nowhere to look but everywhere. He would stop at nothing to find you.
. x.
“Ymir search…. For Atali… stolen. Daughter… stolen,” The frost giant hisses out, his inflection and tone growing more animalistic the more he spoke to you. Your figure trembles on his shoulder as you keep careful watch over the other ice beings who carry your friends, the trek slow and breaking you little by little. This creature thought that you were its daughter and the more the thought twisted inside of your mind, the more it began to make sense to you.
As a baby, you were found wrapped up in a thin sheet, all alone. The doctors were shocked that you had survived through the freezing temperatures that harsh winter, your body still a warm, comfortable temperature. Even your adoptive parents noticed your odd habits, but they had loved you unconditionally no matter what. You love the cold even though you rarely feel it. Your complexion is always pale, almost sickly, despite you taking care of yourself and Piotr’s unwavering attention to you and your health. You feel close to nothing unless it’s his touch. And that was what made you perfect for the research that needed to be done here.
Even now, the cold that should’ve killed you or frozen your limbs barely has an effect on you besides a slightly stuffy nose. The terrain is all one shade of endless drifting white but you can almost feel the research center growing nearer as if the heat inside the center became a beacon against the chill. The more you focus your senses, the more you feel the subtle thrumming of three heartbeats corresponding to your friends but further away more pulses are beginning to echo inside of your head. You couldn’t tell if it was human or simply a waddle of penguins making a trek home.
The hope rises in your chest that someone has come to save you or that Piotr and the others have somehow located you in this neverending winter to take you and your team home. Minutes drag onward, the snowdrifts growing smaller as the shadows of passing arctic animals crossed the planes unbothered, unaware of her fate.
You wished you had a better power, something useful besides immunity in this weather. If you could control it, even an ounce of it to protect your friends, you would. If only you and the professor had the proper time to truly study and test the limits of your unknown power, then maybe this could’ve been avoided and you would’ve felt more prepared for this type of attack. But that time had been stolen away multiple times; even so, you couldn’t dwell on it now when it was simply too late. Bracing yourself, you squint for a moment, able to easily see the first shape of an electromagnetic marker. You remember Myers carefully figuring out its placement mere weeks ago when this assignment began when the team still held fresh faces and an air of excitement about discovering something, anything, new. As the frost giants breached the perimeter of the base, you knew that the radar inside would be lighting up with little orbs of movement growing closer and closer. The best you can do is keep watch as the ice beings stride forward, their exhales producing huge bursts of icy air.
As if breaking through a barrier of snow, the base meets your eyes. Your mouth falls open at the sight of what used to be your home. A massive gaping hole covers over half of the titanium roof, having burst through the lockdown completely. The hole is glazed over with ice; you can tell that the creatures had cie so cold that it froze through the metal as if it were running water before they easily crushed it in their quest to reach you. But why now? Why did this creature decide to get you now? It wasn’t the first time you studied at one of the furthermost ends of the earth. Before you can try to unravel the truth, Ymir stops once you reach the destroyed base, the movement shuddering the frozen ground beneath you.
You shake where you stand, your eyes staring down into destruction. The equipment is covered in ice as is your desk. Everything is a blanket of snow and you can no longer see the individual markers of your friends. The pot of once hot liquid Claudette dropped is gone. Myer's portrait of his family is poking up out of the bed of ice it lays in, one of the corners protruding. Straford’s blanket depicting characters from Mario is plastered to the homely couch; you’d stolen it on countless occasions because it was simply that comfortable.
The tears brimming in your eyes spill over your lids, unfrozen despite where you are.
“Releasseee humansss… Atali ssstayy…” He commanded. The frost giants follow orders without fail. They extend their frozen hands, the ice extending into the busted roof before they place your companions atop the snow, their faces pale, lips an unhealthy blue. No matter what, they wouldn’t last without any source of heat or functioning shelter. You had no idea if any of the monitors or equipment could be useable or would remain undamaged until they woke up again. The cold is already deep in their faces; they wouldn’t last the trek to the other base miles away and contacting anyone to help would still take hours for a response or for anyone to dispatch. You are in the middle of nowhere.
Nowhere.
“Homee… Homee..” Ymir growled out lowly; your voice is gone, stolen by the growing wind, crushed by the deepening sadness at knowing that where you were going, they would no longer be there with you. You feel nothing, a numbness down to the very fiber of your beings and you can’t tell if it’s your invulnerability or if you had simply given up on getting home. The Bond is virtually gone, as silent as the falling snow. It is a jarring feeling, the sensation akin to being physically cut in half.
“When did you first know that… I was out there?” You asked in the waning silence. You set down the thick book in your hands to properly stare at your Bonded, your eyes fill to the brim with curiosity. Only when you placed all of your attention on him did you realize his eyes had long since retreated from the book in his hands to stare at your face. You often wondered what he saw when he looked at you, did you look plain? Pretty? Interesting at all? The softest of smiles touches his mouth when his gaze met your own; as much as your connection to him has multiplied exponentially, sometimes he could withhold things he didn’t want you to see or feel from his end of your Bond. It wasn’t often, but it did annoy you when he took the liberty to do so just so you would have no inkling of his answer beforehand or he was embarrassed.
“I first felt your existence when I was a child. My tattoo was already forming and it did not matter if you were all the way across the world. I knew you would appear on your own so I paid it no mind. What about you?” You purse your lips in thought, your eyes unconsciously squinting a fraction. If you were being honest, you’d never felt anything from the tattoos at all. People generally thought that you’d gotten them on a whim or to fit in because you couldn’t feel a tug or pull in the slightest. You feel a twinge in both ankles, your tattoos warm to the touch.
“I never saw you coming. I mean, everyone always talks about how you’re supposed to feel once your tattoo forms, once you know the name. Everything is meant to be bright and exciting, but I never felt any of those things because I couldn’t feel the Bond,” You pause, nervously nibbling at your lower lip when you realize that he may take it the wrong way and racking your brain in an attempt to explain better, “I’ve read that people experience their Bonds in different ways. Some can visualize it when they see that person, some can hear it or even associate it with a color. I didn’t experience any of those emotions once my tattoos formed or after. But the day we met… it felt like everything hit me at once. All I could see was you and I felt you for the first time.” I’m so happy we met, your tiny thought drifts through the tether and you can faintly see the glimmer around him, no metal skin in sight. His fingers find yours over the scattered books, enveloping your teeny digits and squeezing lightly.
“I hope you never stop feeling what I feel for you,” He murmured, a warmth filling up your chest from the sound of his voice. Nothing in the world could take away these feelings that you are still trying to put into the right words. The closest you can get to is, “I won’t.”
You grasp at the remaining strands and try to pull as the frost giants turn away, tugging with all the energy you have left. Your knees shake with the force of your concentration and you swear that for a glimmer of a moment, you felt a pullback. Turning your head to look back, you scan the area as if they would suddenly appear out of the thickness of white, eyes squinting when a motion does catch your eye. The howling of the wind is suddenly broken as if the spell cast on you had also fallen away. Your frigid ears can hear the crunching of feet on snow, the pace moving faster and faster before bodies burst through the white storm and you can make out the sleek navy and yellow of their attire. The X is vibrant against the backdrop of white, so blinding that you have to close your eyes.
“We have a visual!” A voice yelled in the distance, her tone controlled yet urgent all the same. Jean Gray moves through the air seamlessly, ice melting against her energy as she flies above the rest to survey the enemy. You inhale cold air and snowflakes, preparing to scream but before you can utter a scream, ice is shooting up from the ground in dangerous spikes heading for the figures sticking out from the snow. Before the ice has a chance to do any damage, a silver blur is bursting through the center and moving faster than the others. Through the distance, your ankles begin to burn against the cold for the first time. It only occurred when Piotr was close by, his side of the bond violently embracing you. He’s too far away to be seen completely as he punched through the ice the frost giants began to erect, but you can make out the yellow and red of his compression suit.
The two frost giants under Ymir’s rule turn and screech while the ice begins to unnaturally rise. Jean changes her trajectory and swoops down to pick up Scott, the red of his visor glowing as he takes careful aim. A red beam of light shoots out of Scott’s visor, piercing the frost giant furthest from you; the laser sliced through an ice hard arm and leg. The guttural howl is loud and reverberated in your ear painfully, making you stumble from your place on the ancient’s shoulder.
Despite the slick surface, you catch your footing easily, ice dancing over your feet to keep you still. All around you, you can hear yet not see your friends, your family, all fighting to reach you. You can’t tell where they are under the even thicker cover of snow and the quickly altering terrain, but you can feel Piotr and an almost heartbeat rhythm from everyone else touched by the snow or on the ice’s surface. Beams of light are shooting all over the frost giants to cut down their limbs quicker than they can grow back while Piotr smashes through the frost giant's defenses.
“Bobby! What are you doing!” You hear Scott shout over the sound of cracking ice, his head tilted to shoot a beam through a frost giant's regrown arm. You look around wildly, trying to find the other ice user with your eyes when you suddenly feel the ice flowing out of him. It’s different from the ice that’s been here for billions of years and the ice growing from the frost giants. Your eyes squint through the snow and wind to see Bobby trying to use his own ice to no avail. It kept sputtering before it eventually fell away from his body leaving him defenseless.
“My ice isn’t working!” Bobby yelled, using his lithe figure to dodge out of a spray of shards from the taller of the two enemies. Ymir is motionless as if spectating his prey to see if his henchmen could get the job done before he stepped in at all. You can feel the different types of ice melding and mixing together, but more than that, you can feel a new type of ice festering under your skin. The ice curling around your feet breaks away and you inhale a gust of frosty air. Something is happening; your stomach clenches as a piece of snow lands on your hand and sticks. The snow crystallizes and spreads quickly along your palm. The sounds of chaos fall away from you as you watch the ice in your hand and feel nothing. The cold is nothing to you, just an inconvenience to your eyes.
Bobby’s ice isn’t working because the frost giants are made of something else entirely, different magic fusing the ice and making it almost impossible to destroy permanently. But- if what Ymir said was true, if you are this Atali, this being bred from mystic ice in the land of frost giants, then wouldn’t you have this ability to control them and the ice they need to live? It’s an otherworldly thought but one that you grasp onto with all that you have. There’s a crashing and cracking of the ground under everyone on the surface and ice begins to crack and rise despite Bobby trying to keep the ground stable. You close your fists and squeeze your eyes as tightly as you can, trying to tap into yourself, into your Bond, into whatever power lay dormant and will it to the surface so that you can save your friends and family. Your ice is stronger than anything else you’ve ever felt. It’s cold, it’s frigid and the ice burns your hand but you keep reaching deep inside to pull out this power.
The pain in Piotr’s chest expands the more he fights through the defensive walls of ice. His body tears and bursts through the walls but the more he tries to fight his way to her, the harder the way becomes. He can’t see her anymore and he can’t call for Jean Grey to form a connection when they all have to focus on breaking through the waves of ice. Ducking and dodging can only go so far when he is so overwhelmed with emotion. Despite the flurries of snow blocking his vision, he can still feel her so close at hand that he wished just reaching out would be enough to reach her. A wall of ice suddenly rises up before him and he stands tall to break through this block as well.
But he wasn’t prepared for the shards that suddenly sprang from the ice, the tips sharp as knives as they suddenly pierced through his impenetrable armor upon impact. The numbing cold that spread through his chest dulled what should’ve been a searing pain, his form stunned from the shock while his metal shell began to recede. With no protection from the elements of ice and magic on his bare, human flesh, the cold is unbearable. His breathing grew wet, labored; the ice pierced something and blood was beginning to block his breathing.
When the ice pierced his chest, you felt your world shift and the ice shatter from around your feet. The energy burst from your core and caused the wind to whip around you, growing more violent as your body began to move of its own accord. Your energy cracks the ice trying to reform around your feet as you begin to move across the ancient’s shoulder. Wind and snow blow away the mist blocking your vision and with a single exhale, you jump.
The feeling of falling quickly dispersed as your fingers spread wide and used the frosty wind to carry you lower, lower to the cracked ground. When your feet touch the ice floor, all of the cracks begin to fill up once more simply from feeling your vast energy. This power feels like a ball of energy expanding further and further away from yourself, creating a dome of power controlling all of the ice within. You can’t hear anything over the heightened beating of your heart as you run across the ice and debris to his fallen body.
The frost giants release waves of ice to try and stop you but your ice reacts without your explicit command. Your pearly ice formed daggers to stab through the walls, shattering them on impact. You reach out, your bond extending past your hands to cradle Piotr’s soul. When you reach his figure covered in snow, his skin is pale blue, his chest rising and falling slowly. Ice has already crawled up his leg in an attempt to tether him. The sight breaks you out of your trance, your throat growing thick as you dropped to your knees. You carefully reached for Piotr, the pool of red frozen against his combat suit. You embrace him with shaking fingers, the tears on your cheeks crystallizing in an instant.
“P-Piotr-” You choke on your words, the pain in your gut only exacerbated by the cold wafting off of his skin. He’s still breathing, faintly, and at the touch of your hands, he tries to shift closer.
“Don’t- Don’t m-move,” You quickly stop him from moving, blind to the chaos around you now that you and Piotr are back together again. The frost giants roar and begin to slide across the ice under the command of Ymir, their sole purpose now to retrieve you. You can’t hear Cyclops yelling orders to the others, have no idea that Myers, Straford, and Claudette have been extracted by Kitty Pride and Bobby once he realized his ice was rendered useless. You can’t see anything but Piotr; you can’t feel anything but his side of the Bond weakly grasping onto you as hard as it can. Hunching over him, your shoulders begin to shake as the sobs vibrate up your chest. Your grief transmuted itself into raw energy and your control over the frosted wonderland grew.
“D-Don’t l-leave me.. You c-can’t!” You babble unconsciously, one tear after another freezing and breaking off of your cheeks. You can’t think straight because he won’t open his eyes. He flew all of this way just to save you and your friends. He risked everything just to make sure that you would survive. The idea of living without Piotr sends a fresh wave of pain to flood your senses and your ice shoots up in defense, forming a sturdy wall of pearlescent ice to stave off an incoming shard. The frost giant’s ice bursts once it hits the wall of ice while ice rises up from the ground to form smaller giants.
“(y/n)..” You come to your senses at the sound of his voice over the roaring winds. His eyes are still closed and yet, his voice is strong, “I r-refuse to d-die so e-easily.” Despite such words, he coughed up blood, the ruby liquid hardening the moment it left his mouth.
“I thought I w-would n-never see you a-again… I’m s-so sorry. This is all m-my fault..” The guilt shifts along with the bond, allowing Piotr to sense and take in everything that you are feeling. You are so out of sorts that even if you wanted to hide it, he would be able to tell.
“I-I am fine.” You can feel his muscles weakly shifting in an attempt to get up but you unconsciously forced your ice to quickly cover his legs to stop him from trying. Your ice is flexing and moving with every breath that you take, more aware of the battle around you than you are. Somewhere deep inside, a voice is starting to rise up. It’s telling you to keep Piotre here and away from the battle before he tried to continue the fight. His organs could’ve been pierced by the ice, the properties of it could have an infection of any kind. The cold alone was already starting to take its toll on his large form. You don’t know if this is going to work or not, but you don’t have the time to consider what would happen if you were wrong- the moment Piotr inhaled his next breath, you sent a sheet of ice shooting up to cover his form, suspending his being in a block of ice only you could break.
“I’ll be back f-for you,” my love. You stop yourself from reaching out to touch his ice-covered face and push yourself up to stand on shaky legs. You aren’t cold. In fact, a familiar warmth has taken up its place in your body besides the new energy dancing under your flesh. The wall of ice separates on its own to let you through and you see Jean Gray and Scott attempting to hold off the frost giants from getting to you and Piotr. You silently thanked them, your shoulders straightening and back growing firm as you let the fear fall away. These people came all this way to rescue you- Piotr loved you this much.
You would prove your love in return. Bobby skated on a wave of ice off to your left as a distraction while Scott aimed a precise bean to cut across a frost giant’s legs. It shattered both and before the creature could regenerate from the ice around it, you reached out your hand as if you could feel the very magic in the air. Clutching onto your power, you use the energy over ice to crush the frost giant into a single piece of ice when you ball your hand into a fist. The punch to your gut is a surprise and you stumble and almost fall, your knees buckling under the weight of your own power. Of course, there would be a drawback, your body had never gone through this type of strain before. I have to keep going. Breathing heavily, you set your sights on the other frost giant pushing aside Jean Gray with a solid block of ice. It slapped against her side and threw her off course, but within your dome of control, your icy flurries help steady her.
“I-I won’t let you hurt my f-friends anymore,” You yelled as loudly as you could, the fear transformed into determination to see this through. Knowing now that you could put a stop to this helped you combat your prior fear. Knowing that they hurt Piotr gave you a focal point for your growing powers. The frost giant is nothing but a moving block of ice to you now. With a wave of your hand, a wave of ice rises before crashing down on the mystic, swallowing it whole. A fresh wave of pain enveloped your fingers and spread up your arms. You’re sure if Professor X were here, he would tell you to stop now because these powers are out of your control. He would probably be right.
Ymir emits a guttural roar, the wind howling back and the snowflakes in the air freezing.
“Why…. Atali?” He questioned and you don’t know why you felt the need to answer.
“Because this is m-my home. These people are my f-family. I don’t care whether I-I’m this Atali or not! Leave now or I will destroy you.” It’s a bluff, you don’t know if you could control the power needed to destroy such ancient magic, but you would risk it. You tap into the link between your mind and Jean Gray, telling her to get Piotr and everyone back onto the ship. Bobby skated the block of ice holding Piotr away, quickly, as the others made a hasty retreat.
It is strange that in the beginning of this, you were so afraid for your life that you didn’t know what to do with yourself. But now? Ymir does nothing to frighten you anymore. His hulking form made of glittering ice and old magick means nothing to you now but an obstacle keeping you from returning to the place where you belong.
"I'm giving you one more chance. Leave. Now." Your voice projects over the roaring winds and brewing storm. Ymir takes a step, shaking the very ground around you and causing a rift deep in the ice directly behind you. Inhaling the air, you raise your hands up, palms flat. It takes a moment before anything happens and for a split second, you think maybe you'd overestimated your ability over the frozen domain. But your newly fostered powers are in full effect and before you can prepare yourself, the ice erupts from your hands.
The ice you create is different from the terrain and different from the ice you manipulated before. The ice is iridescent as it shoots from your hands, your body temperature dropping as your hands frosted over. It's too late to stop the power erupting out of you now; the power lay dormant for so long that now it was like a bottle exploding under pressure. The ice forms a wave of shards that strike at Ymir and he waved a hand to slap away one beam, leaving him open to shards slamming into his shoulder from the second wave.
His cry of anguish makes your ears ring and your eyes sting, but you ignore the growing numbness taking over your body as you intensify your jets of ice and the size of your ice needles, shooting out bigger chunks that slam into the ice giant's chest. The ground began to shake and rumble as Ymir embedded his legs in the ice to keep standing; the cracks ran deep and expanded near you and you shifted some of your concentration to the ground beneath your feet, a sheet of ice spreading out underneath you and shimmering with your energy. It’s getting harder to breathe, your fingers curling from the biting cold and you know that the longer you stay, the longer you use this newfound power, the sooner you would surely die.
Can’t lose. Can’t lose. Everyone is waiting for you. Now wasn’t the time to give up. You chant this mantra again and again as you try to increase the rate of ice flowing from you. You breathe your power into the ice around you, forcing shards to shoot up from the ground at high speed, aiming for where Ymir’s legs met the ground. The shards strike again and again but to no avail. The father of frost giants reached out towards you and you manifested a wall of ice to slow him, sliding back and out of reach. A numbness slid along your hands and grappled at your wrists but you ignore it; you ignore the pain and protests from your body.
“Atali.. Atali.” The name rattles something inside of you, makes your ice grow violent. You’re no Atali. You’re not this person. You don’t want to be.
“I’m. Not. Atali!” A bright white light flashed before your eyes and your hands ball into fists of their own accord. All of the ice shards full of your potent energy begin to vibrate violently and before you can close your eyes, the shards explode. The explosion blasted off one of Ymir’s legs, pushing the creature back. The force of the blast knocks you back, sending your form flying and crashing onto the arctic floor. Everything is white before the strain on your body is too much and that bright white light fades to black.
. x .
“Professor, are you sure… she’s okay? It’s been a week.” Jean Grey’s voice sounds hushed and full of worry. You feel disconnected from your body as you listen from somewhere far off, unsure if their voices are real or not.
“Why, yes. There’s nothing to worry about, Jean. Her mind is with us as we speak. It’s her body that has to heal. I was hoping we’d have the chance to study her abilities before something of this magnitude occurred. The strain of her power has done some damage and needs to repair itself. And we have to stabilize her temperature before we do anything else.” You hear footsteps before Jean Grey speaks again.
“I trust you, Professor. From what you saw in my memories, how did she manage to do that? I have faith in all of our abilities, but she took on a living... Was it a God? Was it more powerful?” She sounds afraid, confused, and questions bubble to the forefront of your mind, but your body refuses to listen when you want to speak.
“The fact that we mutants exist gives the possibility for those even more powerful. He called himself Ymir. He is the ancestor of the frost giants and of man; he comes from very, very ancient magic, magic I thought had remained in the other realms. And he called (y/n), Atali. From my research, Atali was his daughter and sole heir. She had control over the frost giants and would lead fallen men to their deaths at the hands of her brethren. It’s all a fantasy… but perhaps there is some truth to it. (y/n) is adopted and her birth certificate has never been found. It could be just a coincidence but we should prepare ourselves.”
“Prepare for what?” Unbeknownst to you, Professor Xavier smiles as he glanced over at you.
“Anything.”
. x .
You awake in a large glass tube three days later, disoriented and warm. You open your eyes, blinking a few times before squinting to try and get a glimpse past the blue glass. The only thing concrete in your mind is that you’re alive and… despite the quiet in your head, you could feel Piotr close by. You can see Hank on the other side, his shoulders hunched as he looked over a few files before a machine began to beep loudly. His head snapped in your direction and you see him flash a bright smile before stepping over to the contraption making noise. He fiddled with it for a few minutes, pressing a few buttons and twisting a knob before the tube around you began to lower and you wobbled, nearly falling out because your legs were way past asleep. Beast is quick to catch you, his soft blue fur an impromptu blanket when he clutches you carefully.
“Everything still moving in that head of yours?” He teased kindly, steadying you on your feet. You glanced down at your own feet as if looking at them would get them to work perfectly when you finally noticed your attire.
“Yeah, more or less. Where did this suit come from?” The spandex is skin-tight yet comfortable, a deep navy and yellow with the signature X on it. You’d seen everyone else’s before so you could tell that the pattern was original.
“Professor X had me make it especially for you. Whenever you wear it and use your powers, it’ll keep your temperature regulated so you won’t freeze yourself to death- which, by the way, nearly happened. When they got you to me, you were barely breathing, covered in ice, and I thought your fingers were going to break off if you were moved. It’s a miracle that your body still managed to retain its heat when you lost consciousness.” Ah, so you were that close to dying? You can’t help but wrap your arms around yourself and take a deep breath, letting the information sink in. For whatever reason, you were able to survive.
“And Piotr? Where is he?” Your voice comes out small, afraid for the answer. Your last memory of him is his face frozen from your ice and blood- lots of blood.
“Don’t worry, (y/n.) He’s fine. Your quick thinking made all the difference. He would’ve been in a lot more danger if you hadn’t put him on ice. He thawed once both of you were safe.” As he explains this to you, the entrance to the medbay opened and a few members of the team enter. You’re sure Hank was probably still talking but everything falls on deaf ears the moment Piotr’s form lowers to get through the door. He looks a bit pale with one hand pressed to where the shard of ice- your knees grow weak but you ignore the feeling as you rush across the room, pushing between Bobby and Kurt who snicker at your antics. Your Bond is already opening itself back up, begging and needy. The moment you’re within reach, you’re being literally scooped up and cradled to his barrel chest.
You’ve never been one for such open acts of affection, but you can’t help but reciprocate, reaching to wrap your arms around his neck as he easily held you, one hand holding the back of your head gently. His side of the Bond wraps around you just as his arms do, intense and vibrant, and you are warmer than you’ve ever been before. It’s almost hard to breathe again, but not because he’s holding you too tight; it's his presence, it's the mere fact that here he stands before you, alive and touching you and gently scratching at the base of your scalp.
“My little snowdrop,” He murmured, accent thick with emotion as he crushed you closer, “I thought I had lost you forever.” If not for your own emotions, you’d feel very embarrassed at everyone witnessing something extremely intimate between the both of you, but you’d think about it later, much later.
“I’m sorry I-I worried you. I’m sorry… You were hurt because of me. I-” Your emotions are frazzled and your side of the Bond is practically wailing but Piotr shushes you quietly before drawing your face to his neck for more contact. Hank abandons his research to usher everyone else out despite the protests.
“It is fine. Everything is fine now that you are within my grasp, (y/n). I would give up my life if it meant you would live. You know this, right?” His words break the dam on your emotions and the tears spring to your eyes before you can blink them away fast enough. You sniffle into his neck but also inhale his signature scent as your ankles burn where his tattoos lay. It’s all hitting you at once now; you almost lost him and he almost lost you at the same time. If he didn’t travel thousands of miles just for you, who knows where you would’ve ended up?
You clutch onto him as he takes a few steps to sit on top of one of the cots, letting you rest in his lap but refusing to let go. And you don’t want to. For all your wandering around the world, in the cold and in the snow, you never realized that the warmest place has always been right here in his arms.
“I-I love you.” You remember the very words whispered through the Bond but this was the first time you’d ever said it, out loud, for him to hear. You’d always thought about it constantly, but the opportunity had never shown itself for you to tell him before you left. Between the meetings with your grant partners and moving items to storage, planning flights, and details for the trackers- Piotr had missions with the X-Men to take care of. He’d been gone by the time you left and that phone call was the best either of you could do before even that was stolen from the weather.
“I love you,” You say it again as you draw away to look up at him- but you see nothing but him coming closer, pressing your face closer by his hand on the back of your head, as his mouth silences your own. Piotr’s kisses are always soft and probing, never pushing you too far, but this time you dig your fingers into his shirt to hoist yourself closer, your head bending and mouth slightly opening in invitation. He takes the bait gladly and you find your kiss morphing into something else entirely. The heat between your bodies and your Bond is amplified as his tongue eases into your mouth, his hands shaking as he tried to stay calm, gentle, afraid that he’d lose focus and hurt you. And as suddenly as the heat is growing, you feel your mind slipping and a cold breath exits you straight into Piotr’s mouth. He drew away, surprised from the sudden breeze. You blinked up at him before the both of you began to smile.
“That is new.” He noted, pressing a soft kiss to your mouth once more, following up with another to your left and right cheek.
“Sorry, I’m still learning,” You murmured, pressing a cold kiss to his jaw. His nose crinkled from the sensation as his grip on you loosened somewhat, his eyes drinking in the sight of you. The way Piotr stares down at you is enough to make you blush, but now it doesn’t show, your chilled skin hiding the effect he has on you quite well. You hide your face in his neck instead, breathing in all that he is.
This is real.
As Piotr held you in the med bay, you had no idea what the future would hold for you, a newly made X-Man, but whatever it was, you knew that your Bonded would be by your side no matter how cold you may become.