Author’s Note: If anyone had told me a year ago; Hell,
a month ago; that I’d be writing X-men:
Evolution fanfiction, I’d have smiled patronizingly and allowed them
their delusion. After all, I’m a
fan of the FOX style X-men from back when it began, and I’ve never been a fan of
taking established characters, regressing them to their teenage years, and
putting them through tons of unnecessary angst. There’s enough angst that gets thrown
around the grown-up characters as it is.
Still, someone I love very much is a big fan of the series, and if
there’s one thing I cannot do, it is to refuse any action that would make my
beloved Lord R happy. Thus do I
write a story that I’m sure you’ll all think is crazy, will probably have a
zillion things wrong with it, and will likely only be enjoyed by Lord R. Still, I was asked by Psychodelic Barfly
to post it before it was even written; apparently, she has some confidence in my
abilities without ever reading my work.
However this story turns out, I must thank her here for her assistance in
locating the answers to my technical queries.
In this
story, chai is not a reference to the popular creamy tea. It is Romani for ‘daughter’. Really, honest! I even looked it up. Not only is Wanda being trained by a
gypsy witch, she is also at least half-Romani through her father (see Magneto’s
profile on Rosiel’s page). I figured it would be appropriate. Agatha’s use of the term is from a wise
woman to her protégé.
This story
takes place after “Day of Reckoning”.
It is erotica, and therefore is not for the eyes of those under 18 or
easily offended by sexual situations, homo- or hetero-. X-men: Evolution is the property of the WB,
Marvel comics, and several people that I’m probably forgetting. You can’t sue me! I don’t have any money anyway, so it
wouldn’t do you any good. :-P There
are also random songfic elements to this story; the songs used (plus a few
others for good measure) are listed below and belong to their respective artists
and recording companies. If you do
not have these songs or have never heard them, AudioGalaxy is a free peer-to-peer mp3 site
where they can likely be downloaded.
I especially recommend the songs by Anathema, Godgory, Linkin’ Park,
Depeche Mode, Poe and Nickelback as theme music for Wanda.
Comments,
questions, and favorable reviews are encouraged. Criticisms that are phrased civilly will
be taken under advisement. Flames
will be fueled with napalm and returned, causing the offending keyboard to melt
internally and be unable to manufacture any further unchivalrous nonsense. You have been
warned.
Recommended
Musical Accompaniment: Play the
Game- Motorhead
It Doesn’t Even Matter- Linkin’ Park
Angry Johnny- Poe
Blasphemous Rumors- Depeche Mode
Dogma- KMFDM
How You Remind Me- Nickelback
Torpedoes- MDFMK
Empty- Anathema
Conspiracy of Silence- Godgory
Last Note of Freedom- David Coverdale
Nothing Else Matters- Metallica
Can I Touch You… There- Michael Bolton
To The Moon and Back- Savage Garden
Aftermath
By Lady
Eternal
The scent of destruction still hung thick in the air: smoke, ozone, metallic fumes. Equally as thick was the fear, the
devastation, the uncertainty.
Beast, Evan, Rogue, Wolverine, and the Professor’s absences were
palpable, their wraiths haunting the peripheral vision of the young X-men. The Brotherhood’s losses were no less
tangible: Fred, Pietro. Pietro’s betrayal left a sour taste in
their mouths, but he was still a Brother mutant. The alpha females were staring one
another down: Mystique’s lips
turned up in triumph, Storm’s eyes crackling with rage. The younger mutants could do nothing but
watch the silent confrontation, awaiting someone’s comfort, instruction: anything that would chase away the
shadows of fear that was setting in like the plague.
“Leave this place,” Storm finally ordered, her voice constricted with
fury and her teeth clenched tightly in an effort for
control.
“What if I don’t wish to?” Mystique countered. Her gaze flickered smugly over the
children, lingering just for a heart’s breath on Nightcrawler. “You’re beaten, Ororo. Your altruistic naïveté is your own
undoing: you and your professor and
your pitiful band of X-men. Do you
really think that mere children are going to be a match for what awaits you
now?”
“These children can still kick your ass,” Lance rumbled
darkly.
Mystique glanced at Lance in surprised amusement. “Come now, Lance. Are you honestly going to tell me you
thought that I was siding with Xavier?
You know as well as anyone where blind faith in ordinary humans will get
you.”
Her words carried an ugly ring of truth for too many here, but that
didn’t stop Lance. Taking an angry
step forward, the earth shuddered at his command, throwing Mystique and several
others to the ground. The pit
behind them that had once been the Institute groaned, several rocks dislodging
and tumbling to the bottom. “You
still put all of our lives in danger.
You cost me one of my guys.
You could have killed a bunch of innocent, albeit naïve kids. I’ve never wished another mutant dead,
no matter how blind I think they are to the truth. Find yourself some other patsies,
Mysti.”
Mystique rose to her feet, about to reply, but the blue beauty had not
survived this long by being reckless.
What was left of her little cadre had turned against her. Shifting into a hawk, Mystique took
flight with a powerful thrust of her wings, a scream of triumph echoing behind
her.
Silence again. Storm turned
to face her charges, a grave expression on her face. They were battle-worn, exhausted, and
emotionally ravaged; as if that weren’t enough, Storm knew even better than they
did that the worst was far from over.
Finally, she turned to Lance.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, well…” Lance couldn’t
remember feeling more tired than he did right now. What I wouldn’t give to have
someplace to hole up with Tabitha right now… or better still… no, not gonna
think about that right now. “I
figure you guys need our help as much as we need yours.”
Scott snorted derisively, glancing up from the fragrant waves of Jean’s
hair. “We never needed your
help.”
“What are you, learning-impaired?”
Lance’s temper snapped as he turned on Scott, the ground shuddering and
shifting beneath his feet. “That
maniac has four of your people, and that’s assuming Mysti and Magneto didn’t
simply gift-wrap your precious professor for him, too. That freakin’ overgrown Go-bot isn’t
gonna be out of commission forever, and you’ve got nothing but an oversized
metal bubble and some caves to hide in once it’s up and running again. We can’t afford to waste time and energy
beating the Hell out of each other when General Insanity is trying to
kill us. Do you get that,
Shades? This isn’t about your ego
or mine anymore. This is real, and
it doesn’t matter whether I think most of you are naïve, elitist dorks. Right here, right now, we can’t afford
to be petty. We need each other; we
can go back to hating each other’s guts later, if we
survive.”
His face mottled with rage, Scott made to step around Jean and confront
Lance directly. Jean stopped him,
placing gentle hands on his shoulders and leaning up to whisper softly in his
ear. From the look on his face,
Scott didn’t like what she was saying to him, but he did like the way her
breathy voice caressed his ear.
Simmering down, Scott took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around her
torso again. “You’re right. Truce.”
Storm nodded her approval.
“Come on. We need to assess
the true extent of the damage; any resources we can salvage will help.” With gentle hands, she slowly urged the
group of young mutants towards what was left of their home. Counting heads mentally, she turned back
when she realized someone was missing.
Wanda was standing exactly where she had been the entire time, gazing at
the sky where Mystique had disappeared.
“Wanda?”
“Yes?” Wanda did not turn
towards the older woman, instead gazing up into the blue sky with unreadable
eyes.
“Come inside, dear. We all
need to rest and attempt to regroup.”
For another moment, Wanda stayed as she was. When she looked at Storm, Storm was
taken aback by the expression in her eyes.
Such presence for a young woman… such power… and such rage. “All right.” Betraying nothing, Wanda stepped past
Storm and walked to the rest of the group.
Soon, Brother… soon, I will come for you, and you will be made to
remember just who we are to each other.
By the time night fell, the group of young men and women were almost all
asleep. Exhaustion and depression
had set in, weighing on everyone like cement blocks. Finally, Storm had instructed everyone
to make camp as best they could inside the caverns, making certain to stay at
least within shouting distance of one another. Not surprisingly, the young people made
camp in pairs or groups, taking what solace they could in the close embrace of
friends and lovers. A schedule of
watches was established, Storm and Kurt taking the first shift despite their
fatigue. After a few hours,
however, the fuzzy blue elf was curled safely in the weather witch’s arms, both
sleeping peacefully.
Once certain that the sentries were asleep as well, Wanda rose. Sleep was neither easy nor necessary
just now. If she was going to free
her brother, she needed more than an exhausted but enthusiastic cadre of
mutants. They needed the tactical
advantage that the Institute had offered the X-men from the beginning. She knew of only one way to recover that
advantage in time to save Pietro.
Closing her eyes for a few minutes, Wanda shoved her exhaustion into a
corner of her mind. Later, she
promised herself. Later she could
sleep… when this was over.
Ready for her self-appointed task, Wanda slowly pressed herself up off
the floor of the cave. A few inches
off the floor was all that was required to keep anyone from hearing her
footsteps. Not that anyone
would. Anyone that hasn’t found a
secluded little corner to have sex in is so dead asleep that they wouldn’t hear
the roof collapsing on their heads.
Now where is that door?
Deep in the heart of the caves, Wanda found what she was looking
for. The door slid open at her
touch, ignoring its ordinary identification protocols. There was no time for such things
now. Once the door had safely
closed behind her, blocking out the sound of Scott working off his frustration
with Jean, Wanda let herself sink to the floor with a soft sigh. “I’ll never know what the tramp sees in
him,” Wanda muttered, walking down the platform to Cerebro’s controls. “Not that he isn’t welcome to her…” Settling into the chair, Wanda pushed
away the image of titian hair streaked with white. She needed to concentrate. Cerebro was powered by an independent
system from the Institute, so it should still function… and she needed a little
assistance.
At first, the computer didn’t want to respond the way she wanted it
to. Wanda was used to that, and
knew how to get around it. Ignoring
the way her hands trembled, she forced the computer to respond to her will,
conjuring detailed images of the Institute in her mind. Taking from those mutants she could
reach, Wanda systematically reconstructed the Institute before her mind’s eye,
down to the clothing that had been incinerated and favorite CD’s that had been
melted to slag in the students’ rooms during the blast. Only when she was certain that she had a
complete picture did she relax her will, allowing Cerebro to shut down. Again forcing back her exhaustion, Wanda
walked back to the door. After
taking a moment to steady her breathing, she opened the door and quietly floated
herself past the still slumbering mutants to the blankets that Storm had given
her. A short nap to
rejuvenate. Just an hour or so of
sleep was all she needed.
Her defenses only slightly relaxed even in slumber, Wanda floated just
beyond consciousness, her mind conjuring a face framed by titian hair and the
scent of jasmine and roses.
A/N: Trust me, this gets much juicier. Just give it some
time.