The scene before John was familiar. Akira, Black Frost, sat at the bar, staring into some fruity cocktail with a mixture of contempt and hatred. John almost wondered if she was mad about the drink or about the fact that he had walked into the bar. It wasn't one of those sketchy one's in the downtown district. It was one of the nicer ones on the upper east side. The one's that had all the fancy, important business men. John noticed how many men were eying Frost. With her long white hair and all black clothing, John had to admit she looked pretty alluring and mysterious. He set his jaw and slowly approached her. 

"Do we have to do this again?" Black Frost asked as he sat next to her. "We both know I'll win."

"I'm not trying to beat you." John said. Frost said nothing.

"Can I get you something sir?" The bartender asked.

"No thanks." John said.

"He'll have a beer." Frost said at the same time. She glared the bartender down in a way that made him scurry off to go get a beer. "We're at a bar right? We should drink." Black Frost said, taking a sip from her cocktail. "We're celebrating after all."

"Celebrating?" John asked. 

"It's my birthday." John frowned. No it wasn't Akira told him her birthday was in the winter, not mid summer. "It's my birthday, not Akira's. This is the day I emerged to protect her. The day I..." Even Frost couldn't say it. Even she couldn't admit what she had done to her family.

"Well, happy birthday." John said lightly. Black Frost scoffed.

"You're not actually happy."

"All I want is for you to be happy Frost, whether it's here with us or somewhere else." John watched her roll her eyes.

"You don't mean that." She muttered as a glass of frothy beer was placed next to John's elbow. 

"I do." John insisted. "Everyone deserves to be happy, even you." Black Frost said nothing. "You're not a bad person you know. You want to protect yourself. There's nothing wrong with that." John watched her roll her eyes.

"I want to protect Akira. She's... Pathetic." 

"She's you. You're her. You're not two separate people Akira."

"We are." Black Frost insisted. "Look at me." John's eyes never left hers.

"I am looking at you." Black Frost scowled as a guy in business suit and a sleazy smile came up next to her on her left side. He was smiling at Black Frost, staring down her low cut shirt. John's blood boiled as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Say one thing to me and I'll slit your fucking throat." Frost said before he could speak. The guy visibly paled and when Frost glared at him with her milky eyes, he immediately backed up and turned tail, leaving the bar. "So we're one and the same, right Johnny? That's what you're telling me?" John pursed his lips.

"Yes." Black Frost straightened up, and started to chug the rest of her cocktail. A group of men nearby were given their drinks and John watched the forth spill over, a small trail of liquid making it's way down the bar. John looked back to Akira who set her empty glass down on the counter. John watched an icy cloud of breath escape her mouth. He clenched his jaw.

"Well, I guess I'm just a hazard to myself then." With that, Black Frost pressed down on the trail of liquid that had flowed towards her from the overfilled beers. Immediately it froze, racing to meet the glasses which shattered when they reached below freezing levels.

The men looked from the beers to Black Frost confused. But when a large jagged piece of ice materialized in her hand, everyone panicked. John ducked as she threw it. It hit a painting behind him, dead center in the figures eye. People were racing for the exits, shouting. Why did it always happen like this? Black Frost laughed as snow began to fall down around them. She slowly stood up from her bar seat as ice began to move in icy tendrils along the carpet, to the stools, up the bar and beyond.

"Akira, please. I don't want to fight you."

"It won't be much of a fight." Black Frost said, cocking her head with a wicked grin on her face. "We both know you'll let me win, that you'll let me kill you." John swallowed hard. "I told you you're Akira's only weakness. If I get rid of you, then she won't have to care about anything else in the world but herself." John dodged an icy blast from Black Frost, taking cover around the side of the bar. 

Running and crouching along the edge, of the bar, just out of sight, John stood up only long enough to check that Black Frost was coming after him. She was. She put her arm out again and nearly turned John into a popsicle but he tuck and rolled and escaped the jagged shards that arose around him. John had been afraid that Black Frost would try to kill him this time around. When they last fought, she had said he was Akira's weakness. Black Frost hate's weaknesses. That's what she saw her family as, a weakness. Akira loved them and when she killed them, it very nearly killed her. A tiny part of her wanted to survive though, wanted to keep going. That's what Black Frost was, Akira's survival instinct. 

John ran to the wall and pulled the fire alarm, alerting to everyone who hadn't been paying attention, that they should get out of the bar. "A lot of good that will do!" Frost shouted at him as he ran into the kitchen. As John closed the door behind him, he felt it grow cold underneath his fingertips. John shouted at the lingering staff that they had to leave just as Frost burst through the doors. She was smirking at John as he pulled one of the large fridges free from the wall and chucked it into Black Frost's path. She just laughed, icing it mid air so that there was now an ice sculptor of a fridge in the middle of the kitchen. John had only been trying to buy the people some time though and as the last of them ran out the back door, John followed and raced down the opposite end of the alleyway away from them and everyone else. 

When Black Frost emerged, she glanced down at the scared humans and then down at John who was backing himself up into a corner. What an idiot. She thought. "If you're trying to escape, it won't work!" Black Frost called out. John didn't respond. Frost just shook her head and with a scream of fury, she turned the whole alleyway in front of her to ice. Concrete and dirt froze and cracked and Black Frost raised her arms upward, sending large jagged pieces up. She was breaking up the ground underneath John's feet. 

Before the ice touched him though, he jumped at the last moment and caught the rung of a fire escape. Black Frost smirked a little and stalked forward as John jumped down onto the shards, trying not to accidentally impale himself. "You can't run forever. I will kill you." Frost said. John shivered from the cold. "In fact, you'll beg me for it." Black Frost reached out and John cried out in pain. It felt like she was freezing the blood in his veins, the water in his body. She was going to freeze him to death from the inside out.

"Frost please." John said, teeth chattering.

"That doesn't sound like begging." Black Frost said. She was standing over him now. His lips were blue. John grit his teeth.

"If you're so evil then kill me!" John said, his whole body was shaking from the cold. His breath made a cloud of visible air in front of him. "Kill me Akira! Because that's the only way you're going to stop me. I will always look for you and I will always find you." Black Frost laughed. 

"If that's what you want Johnny boy." John braced himself for the cold, braced himself for the ice. Akira screamed but John didn't feel anything. He opened his eyes. a large jagged icicle was just inches from his heart. Akira looked tormented, completely at war with herself.

"I know you feel like love is a weakness. You loved your family and you hurt them but that's not your fault." John said.

"Shut up." Black Frost shouted at him.

"We can be your new family, the Mutant Underground! I can be your family."

"I don't need you. I don't need anyone but myself." Black Frost shouted at him. John could feel the tightness in his chest dissipating. Was Akira breaking through? Clearing out the ice from inside his heart and her own.

"Maybe you don't need us but I need you Akira. I want to make you happy. I want you to be happy with me, please." John begged. John was amazed to see tears falling down Akira's cheeks. When Akira closed her eyes and opened them back up again, they were no longer a milky white. John could see her irises again. they were an ice cold blue.

When Akira blinked again, her eyes returned to a warm brown. The icicle in her hand melted away, as did the rest of the ice around them, including the ice inside John's own body. He finally felt like he could breathe again. Akira collapsed to her knees as John choked and tried to remember how to breathe properly. "John." she breathed out. "I'm so sorry." Akira broke down crying. John moved toward Akira and wrapped her up into a hug. Akira had almost forgotten how warm he was.

"Come on Akira, we need to get out of her." He murmured, kissing her forehead. "You're coming home with me. I'm not taking no for an answer." Akira just nodded, letting John pull her back to her feet. 

"We can't go that way." Akira said as John tried to pull her towards the exit of the alley. "We have to go up." Akira took a deep breath and wiped at her tears. She pointed her hands, palms down at the ground and created an ice shelf underneath their feet. John stumbled as they shot upwards, Akira creating her own icy elevator to the roof. As they stepped onto the flat surface, Akira made the ice disappear. John smiled at the control she exerted over her powers. "Let's go home." Akira said.

"Home." John agreed. 

A/N:

I have an idea for a sequel???? Should I write it???? Leave a comment and let me know.