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.