What Now?

A bright light flashed as Pietro and Magneto reappeared in the middle of a lush English field. Fluffy white sheep surrounded them, and some of the more curious approached with inquisitive bleats. Pietro dared not speak. It may be hard to believe, but he was starting to learn that his father was not kind to those who spoke before being spoken to. Thus, a long silence hung between them filled only by the pastoral sounds of the English countryside.

Pietro began to grow anxious. He couldn't even read Magneto's face as it was shielded by his bucket-shaped helmet. All the old man did was stand there, not even wom, just stand. It soon became unbearable and Pietro lost his resolve. "So," he said a little too loudly. "What now?" He smiled weakly in an attempt to make light of the situation. He was the one who had stayed by his father's side after all. Magneto had to appreciate that.

Magneto, however, did not seem to share his son's sentiments. In fact, he tensed at the sound of Pietro's voice and slowly turned to face him, a scowl on his face. "What now?" he seethed. "My entire kingdom was just taken from me for doing what was best for Mutant kind. It was inevitable that the human's would attack, so why not have control over the situation so as to unite my people and strike the first true blow!" He was womming now, his ridiculously tall cape floating in the wind.

Pietro cringed at his father's outburst and began to feel counter arguments creep in during his moment of weakness. But he attacked his own people! What if the humans never did attack? You could have defended yourselves and still looked like victims! The people there were happy, now they are DEAD! was what they were saying, but he shook them off. His dad was older and wiser; he knew what he was talking about. Maybe he had some infallible plan that would leave the others feeling like fools. Or maybe it is you who should feel like a fool. You did just get kicked out of paradise. But again, Pietro ignored these thoughts (mostly because he couldn't think of a comeback).

When it seemed like Magneto had calmed down, Pietro tried again. "Yeah, I know it sucks but…what do we do now?" He held on to the last word, gesturing with his hands for encouragement.

"NO!" Magneto rose higher into the air as he bellowed the word, his cape flared out in anger.

"N-no? Pietro paused in confusion. "But…that doesn't make any—"

"Pietro, learn to hold your tongue! I of course entertained a backup plan in case my original plan failed. Now that it has, I am forced to initiate it." With that, he wommed. Afraid to speak again, Pietro stood in silence, occasionally glancing up at his father with imploring eyes. His fidgeting only made Magneto more irritated, however, and the magnety Jew boy was forced to concede a tired response. "Pietro, why are you here?"

The question took Pietro off guard, but he quickly formulated an answer. "I-I chose to come with you. I want to help you."

Magneto seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking his bucketed head with a sigh. "No, Pietro, you don't want to help me."

Pietro was indignant. "How can you say that! I was the one who kidnapped Senator Kelly for you! I was the one who was there for you during the Sentinel battle with the Phoenix!"

"But you never once cared about my cause. Your every action was a feeble attempt to impress me when I had no reason to be impressed. It's true that I can trust you to carry out orders, or at least attempt to, but your misguided intentions make you a liability to my cause. I cannot waste more time watching your failed attempts to prove yourself. They only ever end in disaster and disappointment."

Even the sheep seemed to fall silent at this, some sidestepping away from the two, their eyes wide with an "Oh snap!" expression. Pietro, however, wasn't willing to give up that easily. "No, Dad! That's not true! I just want to help you, that's all! This has nothing to do with proving myself or anything like that." He couldn't look into his father's eyes at this last bit.

"Is that so? Then tell me son. What is your name?"

Pietro was a little confused, but answered with his head held high. "Pietro Maximoff."

Magneto continued. "What is your quest?"

"I seek the Holy Grail." *pause; realization; panic* "I mean, to help you in your cause!" Pietro's heart pounded in his chest at his mistake, but there was no gorge of death or eternal stench or whatever to be thrown in, so he hoped Magneto would be forgiving.

Fortunately, Magsey seemed satisfied and continued. "What is my cause and why do you support it?"

Pietro's eyes grew wide and for a rare moment in his life he picked his words carefully and slowly. "You want mutants to not have to run from humans, cuz they don't deserve it cuz they're better…than humans…We are better than humans, cuz we're mutants…and you want to do that by…er…rallying mutants behind you aaaand…making the humans fear you aaaand…I support you cuz I'm tired of being oppressed and…I want to help."

Magneto's eyes became flat and unamused (at the same time) as he looked down at his son. "I'm sorry Pietro, but I can't afford to account for your unreliability. I've already lost too much time and too many resources." With that, the master of magnetism wommed away, leaving Pietro alone amongst the sheep who all seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him. He could feel his legs shaking, and without warning he fell to his knees with a soft thud. For the first time in his life, he was both speechless and paralyzed. Not even the consoling of the sheep could rouse him as the sun slowly dipped behind the horizon and left him in darkness.

The next thing Pietro remembered was waking up to a dark shadow overhead. He blinked, trying to figure out what it was before it suddenly became clear. "Dad? What are you…I thought—" but he was cut off with a hand gesture from Magneto.

"Pietro, I've considered what you said and I've decided that perhaps you could be useful to my cause."

Pietro lit up and was instantly on his feet. "Really?"

"Yes. For your first task I need to you to go to Genosha and retrieve my favorite slippers from my chambers. You know, the ones with the little magnets on them."

"W-what?" Pietro was confused. "How would slippers possibly—"

"Are you questioning me? Was I wrong in returning here?"

"NO! I'll get your slippers!" And with that, he was off.

Magneto assigned Pietro a number of such tasks over the next few months. After the slippers he was asked to purchase a year's supply of tapioca pudding, and then he was instructed to attend a cricket game with Toad and Blob. After that, was the teepeeing of the white house and clothing Senator Kelly in a dress made out of meat. Soon, Pietro grew suspicious, until one day Magneto asked him to go to the zoo.

"Go to the zoo?" Pietro asked. "Why? I'm sorry, but I don't see how doing any of this stuff is helping anything." Magneto gave him a stern look at this and he cringed in apology. "Look, I'm sorry, but, can you please explain this one to me?"

Magneto sighed, but consented. "If my word isn't enough then I shall explain. It's Scott Summers. I caught wind that Summers will be at the zoo today, where he will announce that you smell like poop. I thought perhaps you would want to be there to defend your honor, but if you'd rather not trust me…"

Pietro's mouth hung slightly ajar as his father trailed off. "Scott Summers is going to do…what? I'm sorry Dad, but…that just doesn't make any sense."

"Very well. I can see that you have no respect for your name, and thus, no respect for mine. I will leave you to your infidelity." Magneto began to wom away, but Pietro stopped him.

"Wait! I'll…I'll go to the zoo." But he didn't really go to the zoo. Not right away at least. No, first he decided to give the X-Men a visit. More specifically, he wanted to talk with Xavier. It wasn't until he'd made it into the mansion that he remembered that the Professor was supposed to be in a coma, but I guess he woke up because there he was, sitting contemplatively in his wheelchair.

Pietro wasted no time in running over to him with his questions. Xavier knew everything after all, and out of everyone, he knew the most about Magneto and Scott Summers. "Hey, I've got a question for you Professor X." Xavier blinked in that calm way he had about him and gestured for his guest to continue. "Okay, so for the past few months my dad has been sending me out on all of these ridiculous missions and I've done them without question because I thought that maybe somehow they were helping him. But now he wants me to go to the zoo because Summers will be there saying I smell like poop and I need to defend my honor! That just doesn't make any sense! I know Summers is dumb but come on! What on Earth would he gain from doing something like that!" There was a moment's pause, but before Xavier could speak: "Why doesn't my dad love me!"

With that, Pietro collapsed into Xavier's lap with uncontrollable sobs. The Professor could do little more than pat him consolingly on the back and watch as Logan entered the room, raised an eyebrow, and left. Kurt had also bamfed in, and entertained a rather confused look on his fuzzy blue face. "Vas is going on here?" Xavier just shook his head sadly and gestured for the elf to remain silent. Kurt obeyed, but Pietro couldn't seem to contain himself.

"I mean COME ON! The zoo? Really? Summers saying I smell like…like…NO! That is such a lie! WHY! Why doesn't he love me? WHY?" This went on for a while until the Professor finally found room to speak.

"Well Pietro, why don't you just not go to the zoo?"

Silence filled the room, but it only lasted for a moment before Pietro broke it. "No, I can't do that. He asked me to go. I have to go."

"But what if you go and Scott isn't there, as you seem to feel will be the case? Then wouldn't you look like a fool anyway?"

"No! My dad had to be telling the truth, he had to be!"

"Well, if you were so sure of Magneto's intentions, why did you come to me?"

Pietro tried to respond, but realized he didn't have an answer. This left him feeling rather stupid, so with a shameful twist of his head he turned and ran. He'd obeyed Magneto this long; now was not the time to question his orders.

The Professor sighed. "Kurt, you had better go find Scott."

It was lunchtime at the Bayville Zoo and swarms of people milled about with corndogs and cotton candy. Pietro had been there for half an hour and was now staring forlornly at the river otters which seemed to mock his misery with their joyful flips and turns. When the otters became too painful to watch, he moved on to the penguins, which just seemed to bob in and out of the water, never sure of where they'd rather be. "I understand you, little well dressed birds. Purposeless, emptiness. It's a vacuum, isn't it? It's... What's your vacuum like?"

"Maximoff!"

"Not now, Summers! I'm in a heated, existential discussion with these dead-eyed, arctic zoo birds…Summers?" It took Pietro a moment to recognize the voice, but the man standing amongst the crowd was unquestionable.

"Maximoff, you smell like flowers!"

Kurt (from behind the hotdog stand): "Nein! It's you smell like poop!"

"Oh right…You smell like POOP!"

Pietro's eyes lit up. Never before had he been so happy to be insulted (actually, never before had been happy at all to be insulted). He couldn't believe it, his father had been telling the truth after all, and now was his chance to defend his honor! "No, Summers, YOU smell like poop!" The crowd seemed to gasp and Pietro rushed forward, landing a right hook in Scott's jaw.

For a moment, it seemed like the X-Man would to get up and fight, but a gesture from a certain blue elf reminded him to stay down. Scott's brow furrowed, but he complied. "Oh no. I have been beaten and put in my place." [insert mock fainting here]

Pietro had never felt so proud. He wasted no time in returning to Magneto's base where Magsey was waiting on his throne. "Dad, Dad! I did what you said! I went to the zoo and Summer's was there and he said I smelled like poop so I told him he smells like poop and I punched him out are you proud of me Dad cuz I did what you said and he was there and you should be proud!" Magneto only blinked at first, and then burst out into uncontrollable laughter. This confused Pietro, whose joyous smile began to waver. "W-Why are you laughing?"

"Because you've finally snapped!" *more uncontrollable laughter*

"W-What do you mean?"

Magneto took a moment to calm himself before trying to explain through his chuckles. "I was lying to you to get you off my back! I've been doing it this whole time! Summers was never supposed to be at the zoo, and if he was, and you aren't crazy (which I seriously doubt) then it was pure coincidence."

Pietro couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But Dad. It's true, it really happened. It couldn't have been a coincidence. Why would you tell me to go there if it wasn't true?"

"I wanted you out of the way. You were bothering me."

"But why would you do that to me? I've done everything you've asked of me without question!"

"Exactly. That's what makes it so easy to mess with you!" With that, Magneto burst out into another wave of laughter, leaving Pietro in utter shock.

"B-But…I thought you love me…"

Magneto stopped laughing as a serious expression overtook him. "What ever gave you that impression? I don't love you. I never loved you. I would love you more if you were Scott Summers."

DEVASTATION

All around him the world seemed to shift between shades of black and grey as Pietro slowly felt himself slip into darkness.

When Pietro opened his eyes there was a sheep in his face. Startled, he nearly hit it when sitting up, but ducked out of the way at the last second. When he looked around him he found that the scene hadn't changed. He was still in the middle of an English pasture, the only difference was that now it was morning, and a thin layer of dew covered him from head to toe. Magneto was nowhere to be seen.

"That…was a messed up dream," he said to no one in particular. Even so, the sheep seemed to nod in agreement. "I…I've been stupid…haven't I?" Again, the sheep nodded. "And my dad isn't coming back for me…is he?" This time the sheep shook their heads from side to side. It seemed clear to Pietro the mistake that he'd made in trusting Magneto, but part of him still couldn't move on. He stood up, ready to go looking for him, when a stray sheep suddenly stepped on his foot.

"OW! Stupid sheep!" But it only bleated in response. "What are you saying? That I can't make my own decisions? Because I can!" Again, it bleated, this time while walking away. The other sheep followed, leaving Pietro alone in the pasture. He watched as the fluffy forms disappeared one by one over the hill, and for a moment he thought about following them. Then, as the last sheep cleared the top he realized something. "Oh. I see. It's like a metaphor." And with that, he turned his back to the sheep. Where this new direction would lead him, he didn't know, but as he began to run a single question entered his mind.

"What now?"

THE END