AN: These are Evolution stories, because I picture them like in Evolution and many things we see in Evo would later happen to them (Wanda getting send to the asylum for example), but you find also comic sources (like living on the streets for some time) and my own ideas (making them a lot younger when they lived on the streets).

And again, no native English speaker here. If you find mistakes, you can keep them. ;) ... or tell me, so I can learn.

Home is at your side

Wanda cautiously stuck her head out of the manhole. Everything seemed quiet, so the young girl climbed out. Her stomach growled loudly and she pressed a hand on it in agony. "Can you see Pietro yet, Julika?" the seven year old whispered to a rag doll in her other hand. "I hope nothing bad has happened to him."

"Well..." she continued to babble to her doll "... let´s see if we can find something to make our bed more comfy, shall we? But be very quiet Julika. We don´t want someone to notice us, do we?"

Wanda hurried along through some back alleys, searching the containers there, that were filled with everything people didn´t need any more for something she and her twin-brother may still need.

After a while she had collected an armful of cardboard and to her joy, she had also found a piece of cloth, that probably had once been a curtain.

Quickly she ran back to the manhole, opened it with some difficulty and threw all her findings into the darkness below before she climbed down after it into the sewers.

Humming a happy melody Wanda started to clean old, wet cardboard of the wooden plank that was the twin´s bed and put the new one on it. "The curtain will be a nice blanket", she decided and folded it up nicely for later use.

All her work done, Wanda sat down and waited. How long was Pietro gone now? Two hours? The girl was really worried by now. What if the police had caught him? Pietro was good at stealing food at the market place, but their always was a risk. And it was not only the police that was dangerous. There were many bad people out there, who would beat up a young gypsy boy or even rape him, just because. And there were the other street children, many bigger and stronger than Pietro, who would not hesitate to take whatever her brother had stolen away from him with violence.

However the last time she went in search of him and under people, said people had called her bad names. ""Rag rat", a man had said. And "dirty gypsy-trash" had been the words that came out of the mouth of a woman, who was selling vegetables. In Wanda´s hurt she had accidently set the market stall on fire and Pietro had to come to save her, losing all the food he had managed to get his hands on so far.

The girl sat down on the freshly made "bed" with a sigh and twiddled her thumps. She would give Pietro some more time, before going out looking for him.

Wanda sat up with a start and looked around drowsily, when she heard a scratching sound that indicated that the manhole cover was being opened. "Oh silly girl, she berated herself, how could you have fallen asleep?! "

She walked the few steps through the small tunnel quickly, till she could stand up fully and stared up the ladder which led to the streets above.

"Wanda? Wanda?" she heard someone call down. "Are you there?"

Relief flooded her, when she recognized the voice as Pietro´s.

"Yes, right here. Come on down, Piet. You have been gone for hours. Are you ok?"

A young boy, wearing a big smile on his face, climbed down and hugged his sister. "Of course I am fine, Wanda. I would not let myself be caught now, would I? Oh no, not me. I´d never leave you alone. Are you hungry?"

"I am. But Pietro are you really ok?"

The boy laughed and Wanda, knowing her brother very well, noticed something off about him. "I am perfect! What do you want? I have some bread and cheese and apples and an orange and even some ham!"

Wanda pursed her lips angrily. "Sounds all great, but Pietro you promised you would not do it again."

"Oh Wanda, don´t be so! It was just a little!"

"So you not even deny it, do you? Piet, it just is not healthy to inhale those fumes, you know that. Papa always said..."

"Yes, yes, yes, I know! I will not do it again. Really! Promise! Now can we eat?" he said, sounding irritated.

... "Ok. I´d like some bread and ham, please."

Pietro rummaged through a small dirty bag and fished out the required food. "Here you go." He handed some bread and a piece of ham to his sister, who devoured it hungrily.

"Aren´t you having something?" she asked her twin with her mouth full. The boy stared down at the food and shook his head. "Nah, not feeling very hungry all of a sudden." He lay down on their new made bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Wanda eyed the sleeping form of her brother worriedly. With a sigh she took the new "blanket" and tugged it around him. "Sleep well" she murmured into his ear and kissed him softly on his cheek.

The End