So, I got to say, I was AMAZED by how much people like this pairing concept. You guys really are giving this thing some attention. Thank you guys, that means a lot, and I promise you that I will do my best to do the characters justice and make this story as great as possible :D

Now for some minor details: this'll be a full-fledged story, and I'll be using events from the comics, twisting them to my liking of course.

Now, on to the story! Enjoy

Disclaimer: Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch and pretty much everyone else in the story is owned and patented by Marvel.

Chapter 2: The Cold Shoulder & Some Honesty

*30 minutes later*

Wanda arrived at the Mansion kitchen, freshly showered and her costume on, minus the headgear, which she had held in her arms. The kitchen was pretty empty, which was no surprise, considering it was only around 9:30am on a Saturday of all days. Everyone else in the Mansion was most likely still asleep at time, which Wanda found that she preferred. At least it helped her avoid the unsaid words that came with those judgmental glances. Walking inside, she headed for the fridge, where she found tons of food items to choose from. Smirking at the fond memory of Jarvis' readiness to tend to any and all team members, she took out some bread and some jam and began to prepare some jellied toast. She didn't want something heavy or a lot of food-she really wasn't that hungry yet, but she'd definitely get really hungry later on.

Her toast ready, Wanda made her way to one of the lounges, and sat herself on a very comfortable chair. As she ate her breakfast, her eyes wandered across the lounge, and she remembered a time when she, Triathlon, Hawkeye and Stark were rooting for either Hercules or Thor in one of their many arm wrestling contests. The Mansion always brought back fond memories of when she and her teammates would pass the time here endlessly, laughing and joking and talking and all that good stuff. Those were good times…times that seemed so distant and far away now. That kind of lifestyle disappeared forever the moment she had gone crazy and went unstable. She had-no, she told herself as she shook her head, forcing herself to forget the pain and hurt. She needed to stop doing that, she told herself; she needed to stop reminiscing in what was and focus on what is and what will be. It was easier said than done, however. Wanda had developed a very fragile self-esteem and view of herself, and she was constantly under the strain of trying to redeem herself in the eyes of others such as her teammates, hoping that one day, they might forgive her for what she had done to them.

Wanda sighed as she took another bite of her toast. She was desperate for someone to accept her and forgive her, after what she had done to her kind, her teammates, her friends and her family. She yearned for better and simpler times. She would have to work for it, but she'd do it. Anything to help her regain the trust she had lost from everyone. She still saw them as her friends; she didn't want to lose them.

She heard a noise behind her. Turning, she was met with the face of Anne Marie, better known as Rogue, another member of the new Avengers Unity Squad.

"Oh, it's you," Rogue said quietly, her face holding a blank neutral expression. Wanda knew better; Rogue had made it very clear that she would never forgive her for anything she had done. In fact, the only reason that Rogue said she was even staying on the same team as her was to ensure that she didn't end up doing something else on a catastrophic scale again. She would do what she thought would be necessary to stop her, and she wouldn't hesitate. Regardless of that, Wanda held nothing against her, and still viewed her as someone she could trust if she needed to. Despite Rogue's cold demeanor to her, Wanda would always try to connect with her, or talk to her…something. Wanda wanted Rogue to trust her again.

"Good morning, Rogue," Wanda said with a smile.

Rogue simply stared at her for a few seconds before turning away and muttering a barely coherent, "Morning." This was going to be a bit difficult…

"What brings you to the lounge?" Wanda asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"Nothing," Rogue snapped, crossing her arms, her brunette and white-streaked hair bouncing as she turned back to glare at Wanda, a few locks covering her face. "Nothing that concerns you."

Wanda, despite expecting Rogue to respond to her like that from all the other times she had tried to make friendly conversation with her, still felt hurt. "I was just trying to make conversation with you, Rogue," she said softly.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, Ah'm not interested in a conversation with you," Rogue replied, the anger in her eyes contained in her voice. After a few seconds of the two mutant Avengers staring at each other, she muttered, "Ah gotta go do something." With that, she left to parts unknown.

Wanda stared at the door where Rogue went through, a frown growing onto her face. It was moments like this that made her feel useless, worthless and unwanted. It was moments like this that made her feel that redemption, forgiveness and trust were unobtainable for her. She felt like crap right now, and she just wanted to disappear. Wanda sighed as she looked at her last two pieces of jammed toast. She wasn't feeling hungry anymore.

*Somewhere in the Lower East Side, Manhattan; same time*

"Really?" Peter deadpanned, looking at the thug with an "Are you serious?" look under his mask. "A crowbar? Is that really the best you can do?" He turned to the mutant Avenger behind him, who had already knocked out the thug's other pals. "Wolverine, do you see this?! Do you see how he's insulting me here?!" he exclaimed as he pointed his hand in the thug's direction. "This man is trying to make fun of me! Seriously, a crowbar?!"

Logan looked over at the thug Peter was dealing with as he unceremoniously threw his own thug onto the floor unconscious. "Wow, that is pretty insultin'," he smirked. "God forbid it be somethin' like a baseball bat or a gun."

"Ba humbug," Spider-Man deadpanned as his Spider-Sense went off. Without even turning around, he grabbed the arm of his thug-who thought he could hit the Web Head from behind-as he tried to whack the crowbar into his head, snapped his leg back into the thug's crotch and pulled the crowbar out of his hand, finishing up by webbing the thug to the wall while he screamed in pain from the hit on his manhood.

"Be happy it wasn't Wrecker who was usin' the crowbar," Logan smirked as he dragged the other thugs to where Peter had webbed his.

"Whatever happened to those guys, anyway?" the arachnid Avenger asked. "The Wrecking Crew? Haven't seen them in a while, now that I think about it."

"They're bound to show up sooner or later," Wolverine replied as he went over to the thugs' targets: an armored car and its three guards. "You three ok?"

"Yeah…" one of the guards said as he and the others got up to the two Avengers' extended helping hands. "Yeah, we're ok; thanks, you guys."

"Yeah," another of the guards said. "I don't know what would've happened if you two didn't pass by when you did. Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Spider-Man said. "We're just doing our job, just like you guys. Just be careful the rest of the way to wherever you're going."

As the armored car drove away to its destination, Spider-Man and Wolverine made sure the thugs were securely encased in webbing before heading off. A few of them were starting to wake up again. Logan put the fear of God of them by snarling, "Stay here…they usually pick up the garbage in an hour…but sometimes, I'll take out the garbage myself." His claws glistened dangerously in the early morning sunlight.

"Don't you think that was a bit of overkill?" Peter smirked as he and Logan came up to the top of one of the low rise buildings, landing on the roof. They took in the view of the city…well, as much as a low rise building allows for one to see. The sunrise was just barely visible in the maze of buildings.

"Nope," the mutant Avenger said as he pulled off his cowl. "Not one bit."

"And you question why I question you running a school."

"That is completely different."

"How so?"

"Those kids can be monsters."

"Aren't you a monster?"

"I'm a killer-there's a difference."

"A very short killer."

"I liked your white costume better."

"OH!" Peter gasped in mock hurt. "That actually hurt, dude. That was a low blow."

"I don't just kill people," Logan smirked. "I also specialize in fragile egos."

The two brother-like Avengers soon ceased their friendly banter and returned to watching the life of the city go on below them. It wasn't long until Peter, of course, spoke again.

"So, what do you think about Cap and Stark's idea? An Avengers World, with a whole bunch of us."

"Eh, it's no different than how it was already," Logan replied. "Main Avengers, us New Avengers, then Barton's black ops team together were a whole bunch. Now it's just pretty much makin' it all just one team, with some of us gone and new faces in help us out. That reminds me," he added suddenly as he turned to the arachnid, "did you actually hug Stark when he offered you a place and said 'Oh Thank God!' when he mentioned money?"

"Wha-?! No!" Logan looked at him with crossed arms and a knowing look. "Ok, maybe…"

"Sad," Logan remarked.

"Says the guy who was bought in by beer," Peter quipped as he brought his mask to his nose, revealing his smirk.

"Beer's different, Webs," the mutant remarked. "Anyways, I think it's a good idea. I mean, it did help us save Stark, Thor, Banner, Clint and Tasha up on Mars."

"Yeah, those aliens were sure surprised when we got there," Peter chuckled. "Then they started kicking our asses until Captain Universe stopped them. Who is she anyways?"

"Some amnestic woman, from what Shang says," Logan shrugged. "But I think this team is gonna work out. We're holding ourselves together. Better than the Unity team, at least."

"What's wrong with the Unity team?" Peter inquired. He really didn't know much about the separate Avengers team that Captain America had formed with the brother of Cyclops, Havok, in the aftermath of the Phoenix incident. What he did know was that the team aimed to help unite humanity and mutantkind as one by uniting core handpicked Avengers and X-Men to fight together against threats to Earth. He also knew that Cap, Havok, Logan, Thor, Rogue and the Scarlet Witch were on this team, and he thought he heard something of future members to be added, like the recently returned Wasp.

"They're not really much of any teamwork," Logan sighed. "Don't get me wrong-Steve and Alex are trying their damn hardest to keep us together, but you can tell there's friction between some of us. The worst of it is Rogue and Wanda."

"What's she got against Wanda?"

"Pretty much everythin' from House of M until now that's happened to mutantkind."

"…whoa…" Peter said with a whistle. He could somewhat understand what Wanda was going through in that kind of situation-working with a team that didn't seem to trust or like you. Of course for him, he was able to change that rather quickly with his charm, but Wanda was different. She was probably the most hated mutant on the planet. "That's got to be hard for her."

"It's not just Rogue, though," Logan said. "Everyone's kind of wary with her. Cap tries his best to not be, but it's kinda awkward between them. Thor seems to be ok with her, but we see that he isn't always around since he's got Asgard to worry about. Alex is…well, he tries, but he still isn't comfortable around her. Hell, I don't know what to make of the whole thing-yeah, I got my memories back after House of M, but sometimes I wish I didn't. And the fact she almost damned us to extinction doesn't really help."

"But Rogue's taking it hardest, right?"

"Hell, yeah…hell, she blames her for Chuck's death. She thinks that everythin' from House of M led to this moment with the Phoenix and Slim killin' Chuck. She adored Chuck, y'know? She looked up to him, and he was like a mentor to her since she came to her senses and joined us."

"Damn…I can understand how Wanda must feel, with all that blame on her shoulders," Peter said softly. He really could relate; ever since he had become Spider-Man, it seemed like he was blamed for pretty much everything bad that happened in New York. It never got him down, but it came pretty close on a number of occasions. "It's not easy to deal with that."

"Yep…yer whole species hatin' you, you old friends and teammates scared or angry or untrustin' of you…a lot of the Avengers still feel a kind of way about her."

"What about you?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I know what I said when we had to save her from Doom when the Young Avengers found her, and then I see what's in front of me. She really is tryin' to make up for everything she's done. But I need to be honest-if she does start breakin' down again…don' stand in my way, Pete."

There was a silence between them. Then Logan spoke up again.

"I can imagine how you feel about it all."

…

"All what?"

"All of what she did to you. How she screwed you over in House of M."

"…what about it?"

"Oh my god…I'm talking about how you probably are holding something against her for what she made you go through."

"No, I'm not."

…

Logan turned to face Peter. "You're not?"

Peter shrugged. "Nope. Nothing…no hate or anger…not at all."

"You don't hold a grudge?"

"No."

"Peter, I know you-I've known you for a few years now, and I think I know you pretty well. I know you aren't one to hold things against someone, but seriously…this seems a bit much. I remember you begging Strange to get the memories out…you were cryin', bub."

"Yeah, I know," Peter said with a shrug again. "Doesn't mean I hated her. I hated what she DID, but I didn't hate HER. And I still don't."

Logan was astounded. "No wariness? Mistrust? Lingering doubt?"

"Nope, nope and nada."

"Why?"

Peter shrugged again. "I can't blame her for something she had no control over. Yeah, it hurt like a mofo coming out of that fantasy, but she was manipulated into creating that world, after all. I can't blame her for what she can't control."

Logan looked at the man before him for a good minute before whistling softly. "You're something else, Webs."

"Yep, that's me," Peter quipped as he looked out to the city again. He really meant it-he held no ill will against Wanda Maximoff. Why would he, and how could he? He knew it was out of her control, so why blame her? She had been manipulated to creating that painful fantasy for him and the others, and even though she had been the cause of the near extinction of mutantkind, she had helped in restoring the species. That made her good in his book. There was no point in burdening her with ill will that he didn't have when she was already stumbling over what she was already forced to go through. Yes, it hurt what she had done, but he had pulled it together and moved on with his life. What happened had happened and that was it for Peter Parker. Wanda was forgiven in his eyes.

His mind then pulled out the memory of his little talk with Wanda back in K'un Lun during the Phoenix incident. He remembered his words clearly. "You matter, Wanda. As a human being…well…you matter." She had really looked down in the dumps that day, and he felt she needed to be reminded that she was just as important as everyone else, not just in their mission but in every aspect of life.

Peter wondered, as he followed Wolverine in jumping to the next building over, if Wanda had ever taken those words to heart. He wondered if she knew that she mattered.

XXXXX-A/X-XXXXX

Well, what did you guys think? You all know what to do, leave all thoughts and opinions and such in a review, and I will do my best to respond!

Now I'd like to ask, just out of curiosity, would you have forgiven Wanda?

Next chapter coming soon! Until next time, readers.