Author’s Note: Okay, gang, this is where several of you
will likely come at me with sharp pointy objects unless I make one thing clear
from the outset. Between the info
on Rosiel’s page and my brief observations of Wanda, Pietro, and their
interactions, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that Wanda is the
dominant twin and Pietro is the submissive. No, these are not S&M denominations,
either: these are the roles that
twins almost invariably fall into.
As such, I write them according to the dynamic between dominant and
submissive twins with which I have experience, especially that of Romani
twins. Please don’t yell at me too
loudly. In case nobody can identify
it, the song used in this chapter is Empty by Anathema. We’re dealing with Goths in this story,
people; who did you expect me to use?
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
By Lady
Eternal
After a moment of open-mouthed shock, Scott turned on his two-way
radio.
“Storm?”
There was a startled pause.
<<Scott? How on
earth?>>
“The Institute…” Scott croaked.
“It’s back.”
The words somehow forced action through Lance’s limbs. He darted towards door; Scott grabbed
his wrist. “Let me in
there.”
“We have to wait for Storm.”
“Let me in!” Lance picked
Scott up by the lapel. “Wanda’s in
there.”
“And we don’t know what we’ll find,” Scott replied. “You can’t rescue someone if you’re out
cold.”
Lance released Scott, taking a deep breath to steady himself. For once, Four Eyes is
right.
Storm rounded the corner then, the others right behind her. The sight of the Institute doors caused
Storm’s heart to skip, her step faltering for a moment before she strode to the
door and punched in her access code.
The doors slid open with a cool hiss, revealing the pristine metallic
walls of the lower levels.
Carefully, Storm led the teens inside, her eyes sweeping their
environment for signs of trickery or entrapment. Jean gasped suddenly and everyone
turned.
“What?”
“It… it’s real,” Jean whispered.
“I don’t know how, but… it’s real…”
Jean met Scott’s eyes once before she dropped to her knees with a cry,
clutching the sides of her head.
“Jean!” Scott was there in a
heartbeat, cradling her. “Jean,
what is it?”
“No, it’s… it’s okay,” Jean managed, though she made no move to leave
Scott’s embrace. “It’s just…
echoes. A cacophony of phantom
memories suddenly rushed in…” She
looked up at Storm. “Something…
powerful happened…” Suddenly, Jean
glanced up as the last echoes faded from her mind. “Do you guys hear
that?”
Everyone strained, listening.
“I can’t hear anything,” Kurt replied. “There is
nothing.”
Jean shook her head, standing.
“No, I hear it… it’s music…”
“Follow it,” Storm instructed calmly. “We will follow
you.”
Jean walked through the lower levels, reaching the elevator. Only peripherally was she aware of the
other mutants following her, so completely focused was she on finding the source
of the music in her mind.
Empty vessel under the sun
Wipe the dust from my face
Another morning
Black Sunday coming down again
Coming down again
Empty vessel, empty veins
Empty bottles wish for rain
In pain again
I wash the blood off my face,
The pus from my brain
In pain again
But I feel like pain again
“Does she even know she’s singing it?” Kitty asked Storm
quietly.
“Likely not,” Storm replied.
“If whatever recreated the Institute is causing the music Jean is
hearing, it is probably trying to communicate. Since only Jean is able to actually
receive its attempts, it may well be speaking through her so that the rest of us
will hear its message.”
“Can someone really do that?”
“A powerful enough telepath can.
The Professor can and has, though only in the most dire of
situations.”
I’m lookin’ over my shoulder
‘Cause millions will whisper
I’m killin’ myself again
Maybe I’m dyin’ fast
Because nothing ever lasts
“Me, too.”
Forge was about to ask where when the elevator doors slid open. Jean stepped out, guided only by the
music growing louder in her mind.
Knowing only that Jean knew their destination, the group stepped out onto
the girls’ dormitory floor. Turning
the knob on the door to Rogue’s room, Jean pushed it open with a light
touch. There, on the bed where
Rogue had slept until just yesterday, lay Wanda.
This pathetic opposition
They’re the cause of my condition
I’ll be coming back for them
I’ve a solution for this sad situation
Nothing left
But to kill myself again
(‘Cause I’m so empty)
Like a marionette cut from its strings, the powerful Goth lay in a
crumpled heap. Todd leaped forward,
reaching the bed only a half step before Storm. “She ain’t breathin’,” Todd reported
gravely.
“Storm, it’s her. It’s her
I’m hearing,” Jean asserted, her complexion pale from the implications of that
statement.
“That is one of her favorite songs,” Lance confirmed. At Kitty’s questioning expression, Lance
shrugged. “She plays it a lot,
anyway.”
Storm quickly assessed the situation. She’d seen demonstrations of Wanda’s
abilities before, but not even the Professor could have guessed at this. One thing was certain: the girl radiated power, but she was
barely able to keep her own heart beating.
Charles, where are you when we need you? You would understand such
magicks. “Kurt, Kitty: go down to the med lab and bring up one
of the portable vital monitors, an IV setup, and a catheter. Jean, Amara, get me cool water and
cloths. Forge, you check the
computer systems; Scott, take the younger students and bring our camp
inside. Lance, what do you have of
Wanda’s from the manor?”
“Everything; she didn’t bring a whole lot with her from that mental
ward.”
“Good; bring everything here.
Todd, I’ll need you to stay with her when I go to move the
aircraft.”
“Storm, what is going on?” Kurt asked.
Storm brushed the hair from Wanda’s face with a gentle breeze, looking up
to gaze at her charges. “Somehow,
Wanda rebuilt the Institute.” The
impact of that statement was visible.
Storm had to wait a moment before telling them the rest. “She barely has enough vital energy left
to keep her heart beating.”
A heartbeat later, the teens were racing to obey Storm’s
commands.
Brother.
Pietro huddled in a corner, waiting his chance. Trask hadn’t found him yet, but he was
looking. One Mach 3 sprint and
Pietro would be out, away from Trask’s men and able to rejoin Wanda and
Lance.
Brother.
There. The opening. Pietro braced and then ran faster than
he ever had, desperate to escape…
Brother, have you forgotten my voice after all this
time?
Finally free, Pietro paused for breath. No sign of pursuit. Of course, he was halfway out of
Bayville already.
It matters not, Brother.
Soon, you will never have to wonder at my voice again.
Damn it, Wanda; I was busy!
I got out of that lab. I’m
coming home.
Then you will be in time to bury me.
WHAT!!! Wanda, what do you
mean?
I restored the X-men’s Institute by folding time-space. It was all I could think of to truly
have a chance to save you. Once
again, you will live at my expense.
Wanda, no! Please don’t
die. There must be
something.
There is, but it would require your help. You have never aided me when I needed it
most. You were too busy licking
Father’s boots. I was a plaything,
something to be enjoyed when times were good and set aside when I was not
convenient. I thought that we might
once again be as we were as children, but now I see that you have simply
outgrown your old toy. It is for
the best that I leave now, my Brother, and no longer intrude myself upon someone
who has no use for me.
I’ll do it! Anything! Please, just don’t die,
Wanda.
Then open to me, my brother.
Open your mind and heart to me as you have not since that
day.
Pietro ran with all his strength, flinging open the twin bond
frantically. Sister… Sister, I’m coming.
Brother…
Wanda had been asleep for two days.
Storm had assigned the older mutants to watch her vitals in shifts,
praying that she would waken. There
were many questions which required answering, including why she had been found
in Rogue’s room. But Storm was not
a medical doctor, nor a spirit healer.
Aside from keeping nutrients flowing into her body with the IV, Storm
knew of nothing that might help the girl recover.
Meanwhile, with the Institute once again whole and operational, there was
a rescue operation to mount. Scott
and Lance bickered over strategy, possibilities of reconnaissance, who should
even be on the strike team. Storm
was growing tired of their squabbling, but she knew of nothing that could halt
them short of information.
Charles would say that this will,
eventually, prove to be a learning experience for Scott about leadership and
effective teamwork… if we can ever get him past this territory-marking
nonsense. Lance would likely make
an even better leader than Scott, except he’s embroiled in the same
contest. If they don’t work this
out soon, I’m going to strangle both of them.
Into their stalled attempts at organization blasted Pietro. In his effort to reach his twin,
Quicksilver simply ran up the side of the mansion and through the open
window. Tumbling past a startled
Kurt into Rogue’s bed and curling Wanda close, the snowy-haired youth burst into
tears, desperately afraid that he was too late. Kurt was about to pull Pietro off Wanda,
calling to Storm on his communicator as he rose, when he stopped in his
tracks.
There was no real change.
Just Pietro curled around Wanda with his head tucked submissively under
her chin, weeping as a litany of apologies tumbled from his tongue. But slowly, as though moving through wet
cement, Wanda’s arms lifted to embrace her brother.
Storm came through the door a moment later. It took her half a second to realize
what had happened, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “It will be all right, Kurt. Just stay with
them.”
“But, he was with Magneto,” Kurt protested.
Storm measured the twins up once more. “Not anymore,” she declared softly. “Just stay until she wakes, Kurt, and
let them be. I’ll explain
later.”
Kurt shrugged as Storm left, muttering in German as he sat back
down.
Jasmine and roses. Such
delicate scents for such resilient beauty.
Wanda opened her eyes slowly, drinking in the feel of the room and her
brother sleeping in her arms. He
had cried himself to sleep in his upset, clinging to Wanda as he had when they
were children and something had frightened him. Wanda smiled at that. Faced with the ultimate separation,
Pietro had come to heel. It was a
good sign: Magneto had not broken
her influence over him completely.
Once Pietro understood his place, she intended to deal with their father
permanently. Glancing around, she
caught sight of Kurt, now appearing normal, seated by the window and
reading. “Hello, again,” she
murmured.
Kurt looked up. “Oh, you are
awake. Good. Are you feeling
better?”
“Yes.” Wanda stroked
Pietro’s hair, quieting his shifting at hearing her voice. “He has come back to
me.”
Kurt’s brow furrowed in confusion, but he reserved his questions for
later. “Do you want
anything?”
“Tea, if you have any.
Something to soothe my nerves.”
“Ja.” Kurt turned on his
com-link. “Storm: she’s awake, and she wants some hot
tea.”
<<I’ll be right up, Kurt.>>
Wanda’s eyes flickered around the room. “Where am I?”
“You’re in Rogue’s room,” Kurt supplied. “We found you
here.”
Wanda nodded. “Yes… is there
any word?”
“None. We don’t know enough
about that place Trask has, or if everybody’s still there. Scott and Lance just bicker like
hausfraus, and Jean is wearing herself out on Cerebro. Nobody knows if they are even still
alive.”
Stroking her twin’s snowy hair again, Wanda’s expression remained as
inscrutable as ever. “One of us
does.”
Kurt’s eyes followed hers, resting on the napping Quicksilver. Gott
im Himmel… he was there… he knows if the others are all right, where they were
being held… we might save them yet…
The door opened, and Storm stepped into the room, a silver tray in her
hands. Wanda smiled in relief when
she saw the wisps of steam curling from the spout, the delicate china cup seated
lightly upon a matching saucer, the creamer and sugar bowl set on the remaining
corners of the tray. Shifting up in
the bed, Wanda jostled Pietro, who woke with a grumble. “Wake up, brother. My tea has arrived, and I can’t drink it
on my back.”
Fortunately, Storm was wise enough to hold onto the tea tray. The moment his sister’s words penetrated
his consciousness, Pietro’s eyes flew open and Wanda was being clutched about
the middle while he once again rattled off a series of tongue-tying apologies
and pleas for absolution. Of
course, only Wanda understood what was flying off her brother’s tongue, for the
lightening-quick words were also being directed at the valley between Wanda’s
breasts. It mattered little. Wanda chuckled softly, stroking her
brother’s hair again. “Brother,
it’s all right. I’m in one piece…
though none of this would have happened had you not betrayed me to
Magneto.” When Pietro flinched,
Wanda made a soft chiding sound and urged him up. “Now let me drink my tea. We have much to do and little
time.” Taking the tray with a
gracious smile from Storm, Wanda swiftly poured the steaming water over the tea
bag. The scent was light,
soothing. “Sassafras;
excellent.” Ignoring the cream and
sugar, she allowed her tea to steep.
Storm gauged the Goth carefully.
Her attitude was civil, genteel… completely out of character with the
enraged and powerful mutant they had first encountered, as well as the withdrawn
and inscrutable young woman that had joined them a few days ago. “Are you feeling better?” Storm asked
carefully.
“I am, now that my brother has returned to me,” Wanda replied. She sipped at her tea with an elegant
grace. “But that’s not what you
really want to know. You want to
know why I am not the raging psychotic that you knew me to
be.”
For a moment, Storm blinked.
Was the girl telepathic as well?
“It is a valid question.”
“And easily read on your face,” Wanda replied. “I have no reason to direct my rage
against anyone but the party responsible for forcing my brother and I apart, now
that my brother understands where he belongs. Magneto alone will bear the full brunt
of my wrath.”
“Then you did restore the Institute.”
Wanda nodded. “I simply
created a ripple in space-time, which caused the fabric of reality to fold
against itself. That allowed a copy
of the Institute from the recent past to slip through and enter this part of
reality. It’s… very subjective; I
really don’t understand all of what’s involved.”
“How did you do it, then?” Kurt asked.
“I just… did.” Wanda
shrugged, sipping at her tea as her eyes took in the room around her. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I
think it would be appropriate for my brother and I to move into a different
room. We have much to
discuss…” She glanced pointedly at
Pietro, who flinched in misery. “…
and probably should not take up permanent residence in Rogue’s room while doing
so.”
Storm nodded. “Of
course.” After a moment’s
hesitation, she asked, “How did you end up in Rogue’s
room?”
“That, I truly don’t know the answer to. I passed out from the exhaustion once
the Institute slid into place; the last thing I remember before waking up here
was making sure that the fabric was smooth once again and releasing
it.”
Her answer disturbed Storm somehow; there was something here that she
wasn’t seeing. Still, if Wanda
didn’t know, or didn’t want to share, Storm saw no reason to anger the Goth by
pressing the matter. Standing, she
gestured to Kurt. “Come, we should
select a room for the twins.”
Turning back, Storm gave Wanda a motherly smile. “I’m glad you’re all right, dear, and
thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Wanda replied.
She waited until the door was closed, then fixed Pietro with a steely
gaze. “Now then, Brother: you’re going to tell me exactly what
that madman is doing, in the minutest detail you can recall, and if you leave
anything out, I will make certain you don’t move for a
month.”
Pietro looked up at his sister in hurt astonishment. “Sister…”
“You are far from redeeming yourself, Brother. Start talking,
now.”
A/N: Never fear; Pietro is here! But things can only get more interesting
with Speedy in the picture… and we still have a rescue to mount. Stay
tuned!