Hey guys! Enjoy the chappie and review!

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Chapter Seven : Away From Wanda

By dinnertime, Rogue still wasn't back. Kitty and Kurt were still hiding away in his room. And Jean wondered what had gone wrong to pull them all apart. Wasn't death supposed to bring people together to help them deal with grief? Wanda's certainly didn't seem to be doing the trick…

"Jean, what's been bothering you so much?" Scott asked his girlfriend softly, gently rubbing her shoulders.

"Nothing, Scott." Jean leaned into the massage. "I'm just, um, stressed with college and battles and stuff."

"Stuff like Wanda."

Jean couldn't decide if she loved it or hated it that he knew her so well.

"You're hiding something from everyone."

At that moment, she decided to hate it.

"You could just be looking too far into this, Scott. You have a habit of doing that."

The words didn't sting coming from Jean. Scott knew she had no malicious intent. But he also knew that something was bothering her.

"What is it?"

"Nothing at all." Jean replied softly. "It's my turn to help Ororo make dinner. I need to go do that."

And she left, leaving Scott more confused and worried than before. It was a short fall to make it to the bottom, and a long climb to make it back.

"Goddammit Pietro…"

Something tightening around his wrist. Something hurt as the thing- it felt like fabric or cotton- pinched into the cut. The cut- he was in the kitchen, on the floor. He had tried to kill himself.

"Can't be bothered to think about anyone but your stupid self…"

The voice sounded like Todd's. Pietro opened his eyes, blinking the light. He felt weak and tired. The Toad was there, bandaging his wrist with a strip of white cotton. He was wearing only a pair of jeans. His hair was damp, and his face was wet. Almost as if he had been crying… He looked angry- but the anger was all-but buried beneath an overwhelming sadness.

"Sure I can." Pietro answered the boy's remark. Todd jumped, and then looked at him.

"You're awake."

"Yep."

As Todd finished tying the bandage, there was an awkward silence. Pietro wondered for a brief moment why he was alive, why he was leaned against the cabinet door and on the floor being bandaged by his sister's stalker.

"So… I'm alive."

"Yeah." Todd didn't smile. He hadn't been able to make himself smile ever since he'd ripped up the picture in the living room. "Good thing you never think things through, ain't it?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Pietro snapped. Todd had no backbone. Todd didn't talk to him- Magneto's son (even though the title repulsed him) - like that!

"Nothin', yo." Todd backed down. Even his current depression didn't make him a fool. "Just surprised you didn't remember. Your sister- She's the one who told us that anyway."

"What?" Pietro was suddenly aware of how groggy he was.

"Nothin'. I ain't givin' you ideas for next time." Todd replied, standing up. Pietro followed suit, and found his head spinning from blood loss.

"What the hell are you talking about, Toad?" Pietro demanded weakly.

"I don't wanna lose you too." Todd suddenly felt very vulnerable and alone. Pietro stared at him. "You and the guys- you're my only family. I don't wanna lose any of you like we lost Wanda."

"You said her name." Pietro's voice was soft.

"No one else does. She was still Wanda."

"So, what did she tell us?" Pietro asked as Todd helped him walk to the couch.

"You cut the wrong way."

"What?"

"Yeah." Todd helped him sit down, and sat beside him. He took no notice of the broken picture and its frame. Pietro got the distinct feeling that the younger boy had been the one to do it anyway. "She told us once that if you're gonna kill yourself, you gotta cut up and down."

"Why?" Pietro asked. It seemed odd that both boys, finally having admitted she was dead, were suddenly able to have a normal conversation. Before they had accepted it, no one could. It seemed opposite to him.

"Cuz when you do it across like that, it stops bleedin' when you pass out. Your hands snap forward to cover the wound." Todd answered softly. "She learned that from the asylum. The doctors acted like they couldn't hear 'em, and talked about all kinds of things."

Pietro remembered that. She had been addressing Lance. She had always thought he was the most mature member of the Brotherhood and easiest to talk to. Everyone else had been in the room, though. It had spurred a conversation of the best way to kill one's self, which had then switched to the best way to kill someone else.

He wished it was that night again, and he could hug her and say he was sorry.

But it wasn't that night, and she was dead, so nothing mattered anyway.

They didn't talk after that.

"Hey, Toad, did Pietro come…" Lance trailed off when he saw them sitting on the couch ten minutes later. "Hey Pietro."

"Hey." He gave a half-hearted wave of his right hand.

"What happened to your wrist?" Lance asked. He hoped he was wrong. He would do anything to be wrong.

"Tried to kill himself. But he did it wrong- he didn't do it like Wanda said, yo." Todd looked sad and desperate. "He was too scared or he just wasn't thinkin' straight."

"Oh." Lance had been right. He hated it. "Did he smash up the stupid family photo too?"

"No, that was Toad." Pietro tattled on Todd in turn.

"That's like the only picture we had of… her." Lance shifted uncomfortably. Freddy was already lumbering towards his seat.

"But it was fake!" Todd explained. "She wasn't really happy, and I wanna remember Wanda how she really was…"

He then turned to climb the stairs. He didn't leave his room all night.

Love was a funny word. Kitty had never before thought it strange that Kurt would sometimes skip dinner to be in his room, or vanish at odd hours. He was a teleporter. And he had broken up with Amanda. She had just assumed he was still, even after such a long period of time, upset. She didn't think that he could possibly find another woman.

And love her.

Let alone Wanda Maximoff. The signs had all been there. And she, his supposed "best friend", had ignored them. She felt like crap. She felt like a horrible friend. No wonder he was so upset about Wanda. She remembered at the funeral, when he hadn't said "a" in the phrase "a little bit of friendship".

He would have said love.

Kitty wished she were braver. If she were, she would have gone back into his room and hugged him. She would have stayed with him and let him know she cared. But she was afraid to intrude, and she couldn't imagine losing Lance.

So she went to her empty room.

Her room was dark and quiet. Neither of the girls had made their beds that morning, and she could see Rogue's unfinished English homework still sitting on the shared desk. Which reminded her- she had homework in Biology and Algebra to do.

She sat down on her bed instead. And began to cry.

Rogue was still wet. She was still walking aimlessly. By that point, tears had mixed with the rain. Why wouldn't Wanda shut up? She couldn't bring herself to shove the girl under the barrier. But she was sad enough without discussion.

'Will you tell my brother I love him?' She asked softly. She had been saying all sorts of things all afternoon. 'Well… loved him.'

Her voice was bitter as she made the correction.

"Sure. Whatever." Rogue snapped.

And the walk made her more tired and sad. All she could think of was Wanda- stupid Wanda, the girl she hadn't even known! It was terrible and she was helpless. The scarlet teen invaded her mind, took over her every thought. No, despite what she thought, Rogue would always remember Wanda.

Always.

Maybe it was the fact that she was the girl's last connection to the living world. That probably had something to do with it. She would feel guilty locking her up behind silly barriers, but she was miserable having to listen to her. If she listened, she remembered. If she remembered, she would become sad. And she then she might cry. She couldn't cry.

She made a sharp turn at the corner and kept walking. She was glad Bayville wasn't quite like New York City- she had been wandering around for a few hours now.

'God, I'm scared.'

Another tear slipped with the words.

'No one loved me anyway, did they?' Wanda's voice seemed to plead for Rogue to tell her otherwise. 'Kurt had Kitty or Amanda. Pietro and Father… never loved me at all…'

Tears slipping freely down her cheeks, making salty tracks to mix with the dripping rain. It was bad enough to have her own sadness- she didn't need Wanda's to add to her own. Within moments, she was in hysterics, sobbing. The rain was a mixed blessing. It chilled her to the bone, but hid her tears. Her shaking shoulders seemed to be with the cold.

She tore through the streets, pushing aside anyone else stupid enough to be walking in the rain. She had to get away from the awful streets, away from her mind-

Away from Wanda.

She had no idea where she could go. At the Institute, Jean would demand to talk to her. Or worse- tell everyone else what had happened and what was going on. Her psychic shields weren't working well at all anyway- she was still freaked out about Wanda. She couldn't think of any other places in Bayville to go.

She cut a corner suddenly as she realized where she could go.

The Brotherhood Boarding House.

"I'm worried about them, Charles. They weren't prepared to handle such a catastrophe- you saw the training session." Ororo's soft voice was dominant over the rain outside. It wasn't her doing.

"They weren't. But, we cannot control the circumstances we are given." Xavier sighed, placing a hand on his temple. The staff- excluding Scott and Jean- was holding a meeting.

"I just feel we should be doing something more to help them!" Ororo wasn't angry- she was upset and worried. Once her nephew had left, the students were her main concern. It was easier to focus on them, worry for them, then deal with Evan's departure. "You've surely seen Jean- she grows paler and softer with each day."

Charles Xavier had a soft spot for Jean. It was a well-known fact throughout the Institute that, while he cared deeply for all his students, Jean held a special place in his heart both as a fellow telepath and a daughter. How could he not notice such changes in the girl? He worried for her mental health. Every night since that awful day, she had woken with nightmares from Wanda.

"We can't do anything." Logan snapped. He had been acting strangely ever since Kitty had mentioned Rogue's missing status.

"We could try." Ororo replied. Her voice, as always, was calm and controlled.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Logan snarled. "They're teenage kids- they don't wanna talk to us about their problems."

"We could always just try reaching out to the poor children." Hank McCoy's friendly voice interrupted the inevitable argument. "They have been through a traumatic time- naturally, there is an aftermath. A wake of destruction, as some might call it."

"Reaching out couldn't hurt." Ororo agreed.

"It might not help either." Logan grunted.

"What choice do we have, my friends?" Xavier asked softly. "What choice do we have?"

The answer was none at all, even if no one was brave enough to admit it.

Kurt's gaze shifted uneasily to the empty seat next to Kitty. On a normal day, it would be occupied with his sister. But his sister had yet to be seen since the mysterious incident in the car.

He locked eyes with Kitty, and she looked away a moment later. He could tell she felt guilty for not knowing, for not caring. He wasn't angry with her- she was his best friend. He would never be angry with her. Somehow, she was the only person it was hard to be angry with. It had nothing to do with love- he had loved Wanda, and she loved Lance.

But their bond of friendship might last longer than love.

It had been quiet at the table for a few dinners in a row now. The New Recruits talked mostly, causing a ruckus on their side of the table. The main team- and this perhaps was what worried the adults most- was almost completely quiet, each lost to thought.

Kurt had noticed it too. But, he preferred it that way and didn't comment on it. The blue elf glanced at his sister's seat again, and his tail twitched nervously. She could be anywhere- she could be in serious trouble and they wouldn't even know it.

His gaze shifted to Jean. Something was off about the redhead- by that point, few hadn't noticed the distressed girl. And whatever it was seemed to be affecting Rogue too.

It was hard losing Wanda. Oh, no one knew more than him (or perhaps Pietro) just how hard it was to lose her. But trying to hold it together after her death- that was even harder.

"Why the hell would you try to kill yourself?" Lance spat angrily at the speed demon lounging on the couch. "Do you even think of how that would affect us?"

"Not really. What would you guys care?" Pietro asked nonchalantly.

"You're a part of the Brotherhood." Lance faltered at the calm. It was almost as if Pietro had convinced himself that his family truly wouldn't care. "We'd freakin' care."

"Bull."

"This isn't a good way to deal with losing-" Lance began.

"Losing Wanda?" Pietro looked childlike, sitting on the couch with a dejected expression no one could explain. "That's just it- we've lost her! She isn't coming back! And no matter what I do, I can't make her come back and stop me. No matter how far I push my limits… I can't beat…"

A knock at the door interrupted his rant. He suddenly seemed to remember where he was, who he was talking to. He seemed to remember he couldn't say such things. Lance ignored the knock, still looking carefully at Pietro.

"Go ahead. They can wait."

The knocking repeated, a desperate pounding.

"Open this door before I kick it in!"

Freddy's head, from the armchair, snapped up and he stared at the door. The other door were. They recognized that voice- even if they hadn't heard it friendly in quite a while.

"Doesn't sound like she wants to wait." Pietro forced a carefree smile into place.

"Rogue, what the hell are you doing knocking on our door when you should be having dinner?" Lance demanded as he jerked open the door. He wasn't angry with her, but he was still upset with Pietro. To his surprise, she was slumped against the doorframe, tears mixing with the rain on her cheeks. Her shoulders shook with the effort of crying.

"I…" She faltered, backing away. "I don't know what to do."

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Again, the dash-y thing on my PC isn't working. Le sigh. Oh well. This might be my last update before school starts (for me, the 21st). I'll try get one more chapter up, but no promises. Reviews do encourage me- seriously, I would've posted this a day later if not for reviewers. Plus you get the perk of my replies letting you in on some secrets and previews! Hinthint! Told you I had something to cancel out Pietro's wrist-slitting goodness.

By the way- that thing about cutting the wrong way is true. You seriously rarely die if you cut across. When you pass out, your body contracts and your hands, jerking in, cover the cuts and stop the blood flow. You cut up and down. BUT I DON'T ENCOURAGED SUICIDE OR SUICIDE ATTEMPTS! YOU STILL COULD DIE IF YOU CUT EITHER WAY! DO NOT DO IT! Anyway, that means Pietro was either too cowardly or too depressed to do it right.