Change of Heart
Author's Note: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place or Xiaolin Showdown in any way, shape or form. *sigh* It's depressing, I know.
Warnings: Slight mention of intimacy in the first chapter. Harper bashing. I like Harper but she's the last person anyone in the series would suspect of hurting Alex or anyone else for that matter.
A dark haired teenage girl sat crying at a white park bench. The park was deserted so no one witnessed the strange sight of Alex Russo's tears. Few on the small street of Waverly Place, New York had ever seen it. Her despair finally overcame her.
Her boyfriend, Mason, was a werewolf. There were times when he transformed and hunted. On occasion he would eat something that didn't agree with him. The morning of this particular day was one of them. Her best friend, Harper Finkle, claimed sickness later in the day but her kind hearted best friend was usually honest so she thought nothing of the coincidence
Alex didn't generally help others. It was strange but she had decided to stop by Mason's house with a bland broth she had asked her mother to make her. His parents were happy to let her. They directed her down the hall to Mason's room where they thought he could be. They had just gotten home from a hunt so they had no reason to warn her about what she would find. At first, she didn't recognize the sounds she heard as moaning from the room. He had not actually locked his door, just closed it. The moaning became clearer and she could distinguish a familiar female voice though she couldn't place it. When she opened the door, she saw her best friend and her boyfriend making love. She gasped and ran before they could speak. Mason, distracted by Alex's appearance, and Alex who was long gone never saw Harper's mouth twist into an evil smile.
Now, Alex sobbed trying to understand how sweet innocent Harper could do this to her. Mason and Harper were the only friends she really had.
"Tears? How pathetic." A familiar voice behind her mocked.
"H-H-Harper, how could you?" Alex demanded sadly.
"Easily. You never treated him right. You've never treated anyone right. You use your magical gift selfishly and make messes everyone else has to clean up. I would be far better than you. You don't deserve your life." Harper sneered.
"You're jealous of me?" Alex gasped in disbelief.
"Always. Now I can do something about it." Harper answered. She walked over to the heartbroken teen until they were only a few inches apart. She pulled out a triangular metal rod with swirls and flowing symbols on the top sides. They glowed as the blond jabbed the device into Alex's forearm. Alex felt a warm feeling just like the kind which she always felt when using her magic wand that rose and flowed into the rod.
"You won't get away with this. The wizard council will stop you." She gasped as she felt her wizard powers drain away. "I'll tell them."
"They'd have to recognize you first. I'll never let you near enough to try." Harper said picking up Alex's wand which she had pulled out when Harper pulled out the device and subsequently dropped it as she lost her powers. Harper spoke a spell Alex didn't recognize and waved the wand. It happened faster than she could recover. In a flash, her body had shrunk and changed to a little boy.
"Enjoy Brazil, Alex." Harper sneered.
In a flash, Harper cast a spell Alex recognized, having used it once before. It changed a person's appearance. In this case, Harper's to Alex's old appearance. A second wave later and Alex found himself standing on a dusty road.
Alex wandered the dusty road to the end, seeing a sign reading Rio, Brazil. It had been two days since he had landed here. He stumbled around the small town aimlessly. He had no way of converting the few dollars he had to usable currency so he was slowly starving. Finally, he reached his limit and collapsed. He was lucky as a dark-haired young couple was passing by and took him to their home while he was unconscious.
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Alex woke up in an unfamiliar room. He hadn't expected to wake up, much less to see a roof instead of the sky. He sat up slowly, studying the room. It was a simple room. A dark wood dresser stood to the right of the soft bed and small knickknacks like pencils and papers covered the top. The walls and ceiling were a dull crimson while various sized pictures covered the walls mostly showing two dark-haired people, a man and a woman. Two fold up gray metal chairs were placed on the right side of the bed. The dark woman from the pictures walked in and smiled softly as she noticed he was awake.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Thirsty and hungry." he answered softly.
"We had a feeling you'd say that." Her male companion from the pictures said walking in with a glass of clear water and a bowl of plain chicken noodle soup.
"How did I get here?" Alex asked as he sipped the water and slurped the soup from the bowl.
"We found you unconscious on the sidewalk downtown." the woman answered.
"We would be happy to help you find your family once you've recovered." the man offered.
"I know where they are. We live in New York on a street called Waverly Place. We were visiting when I got separated. One of the clerks at the airport saw them board a plane but my parents had my ticket and most of the money." Alex lied with an almost completely feigned teary look.
"We were actually planning a vacation to New York in about a week. Would you like to come with us?" the woman asked.
"Really?" Alex asked amazed.
"Yes. My name is Maya Pedrosa and this is my husband, Juan." the woman introduced them.
"Um . . . . Alex Russo." Alex answered.
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Alex found himself oddly comfortable over the next week. The Pedrosa's had been very kind, treating him like they would their own child. They had shown a great deal of concern that his family would leave without realizing one of their children was missing. It warmed his heart and he almost wished they were his family.
Jetlag hit the small group upon reaching New York so they decided to head to their hotel before going to see Alex's family. Alex suspected they were reluctant to let him go. He didn't object as he needed to make sure to tell his parents when Harper wasn't around.
He snuck out to the little sub shop his family ran and looked through one of the windows looking for Harper. He found her standing at a table taking a customer's order. It was near the window allowing him to hear them clearly. So when his father, Jerry, and his brother, Justin, came up he heard them clearly.
"You're doing a great job, Alex. Go ahead and take a break after this table. You deserve it." his father said cheerfully. Alex's heart felt like lead.
"I never expected you to work so hard. I actually want to admit you're my sister now." Justin added and Alex's heart sank.
Alex had almost hoped they would have realized who Harper was but it seemed they had not. He had never thought they would actually be happier with a different Alex. They were a strange family and while Alex may not have shown it, he loved them, flaws and all. He had believed it was the same for them but there was something in what and how they spoke to Harper that made her wonder how much they had truly cared about him as a person and not just cared because he was family.
The couple was surprised to wake up hours later to find a sobbing Alex curled in a ball on the other side of their hotel room. Giving into their gentle prodding, she told them everything. They had offered to make him a part of their family before. Alex had declined thinking he had a family to return to. When they offered again this time, he accepted.
