By the time I got to school, I didn't know what to expect. Half the time Wanda was never even here, and when she was she made it a point to avoid me. But what with all the strange things happening between us recently, I have to admit I was oddly optimistic. I knew her schedule better than my own, and found a way of making my path cross hers whenever possible.
"Hey Slick!" I head a familiar, bubbly voice call to me. Turning, I smiled at her and gave her my own greeting. "Whatcha up to?" Instead of answering, I turned my head when I heard the door I had been staking out open. A few faceless students poured out before she did. She wasn't looking for me, and Tabby saw her before she saw us.
"Awe, c'mon Toad, not this again."
"Tabs, it's not what you think," I told her, though my eyes never left Wanda.
"She's nuts Toad! I know you don't wanna hear it, but you need to. 'N you stalking her is just downright creepy. We need to find you a new hobby. Maybe somethin' like track or knitting or- Uh oh." Tabitha left off on her list of insane replacements for my quest after Wanda on account of Wanda looking our way and catching us staring at her. "Get outta here, now! I'll try 'n keep her from you long enough for you to get away." I wasn't listening, and I definitely wasn't moving.
When her eyes met mine, my heart leapt into my throat and I felt my mouth go dry. She was coming our way, headed to her next class which would force her to pass right by us. Both Tabitha and I shut up instantly as she came nearer, me because I had lost all rights to my voice box upon sight of Wanda, Tabby because she was worried and ready for action. I searched Wanda's face for any sign of violence, anger or even mild interest, but she kept it perfectly calm. When she drew parallel with us, she didn't even pause, though kept her eyes on us.
"Hey Toad. Tabitha," she said, nodding to both of us with a flick of recognition in her eyes, then went on about her way, ignoring us completely. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face, especially when I saw that Tabitha's jaw had dropped.
"What the hell?" Tabby gave me the strangest of looks for a moment while trying to recover. "She noticed you. I mean, like without tryin' ta kill you or anythin'. She said 'HEY', Toad. Wanda does NOT say 'hey' to anyone, least of all you. What the HELL?" But I had no answer for her, since she was only reiterating everything that was buzzing through my head at that moment. The only difference was the pure joy I felt was replaced by wonderment and shock on her part.
"I dunno Tabs, but I'm sure gonna find out," I told her with a smile and a shrug.
I followed Wanda for most of the day, but she barely seemed to notice me. This was a huge improvement over shooting death glares and hexes at me, like she used to, but maybe I had been too optimistic before. As the day wore on, I felt more and more like she had decided to put me into the background, now that she had addressed a regret in her past like some type of coping method or something. By lunch break, I didn't even expect her to look my way when I was leaning against the wall outside of her class. Still, some undying part of me hoped and yearned for even just one glance, to show that she knew I existed.
She was the last out of the classroom, and at first her eyes grazed right over me. I let out a sigh, and slowly she turned back to me, bringing all my hopes back to the surface and I'm sure all over my face. With a quick glance around, she made sure that we were alone, then stopped. I didn't wait for an invitation and within a span of one breath I was by her side. She sighed, shook her head slightly, and continued moving forward.
"Toad, what are you doing?" Her tone wasn't harsh, more reserved or resigned than anything.
"What I usually do," I responded with a shrug, and I caught her glancing at me sideways before another voice interrupted us.
"Following her around like a lost puppy dog with no life?" Lance drawled which made us both turn to inspect him as he leaned against the wall.
"What do you want?" Wanda hissed at him, narrowing her eyes and glaring at him in a way that I remembered all too well. What did Wanda have against Lance? He only smirked at her response, then flicked his eyes to me.
"Toads don't belong in adult conversations. Run along now." He made a shooing motion with one arm before crossing them both over his chest.
"Hey man, I belong wherever the hell I choose to stand, 'n right now that's beside her," I shot back at him, and he only rolled his eyes. Before he could say or do anything, Wanda interjected.
"Lance, what is it you want? Just spit it out and crawl back to where you came from." I didn't like the way he looked at her after she said that, and I tensed up in case he followed through with whatever he was thinking of. He looked the Scarlet Witch up and down, then decided against it. Instead he sighed and dropped his arms, coming to an upright position and walking to stand right in front of us.
"Look, you don't have to get all worked up or nothin', I'm just here to deliver a message." His eyes were on Wanda's until then, which then shifted to glare at me. "To her, and no one else." I inhaled, readying for a retort, but Wanda put a hand on my arm. This alone shocked me into silence, and when I met her eyes they weren't angry or demanding.
"Toad, it's just Lance it's not like he can do anything," I heard Lance growl at her offhand remark, but she continued. "I'll meet up with you in the court yard in a few. Catch you there?" I couldn't deny Wanda asking anything from me, especially it if involved me seeing her again.
"Yeah, sure thing, yo." I shot one last glare at Lance before taking off towards our predetermined destination to wait. Why was Lance being such a dick? That was usually Pietro's forte. And what did he want with Wanda? I didn't have too long to think about it before the object of my desire was walking towards me. She had a darkness in her face, but I could tell she was trying to hide it. "Wanda?" I asked, standing as she approached me. She shook her head at me.
"It's nothing, don't worry about him." For all she said it was nothing, she wouldn't look me in the eyes and she seemed several times more agitated than before Lance had showed up.
"It's not him I'm worried about," I told her quietly, then looked away. I would drop it, if only because I knew that tone in her voice, and I knew not to push the matter. She wouldn't tell me, and I'd just end up irritating her more, and that's not what she needed. I could feel her eyes on me, and couldn't keep mine away from her for long. When I looked back she seemed pensive, but then hid it as soon as our eyes met.
"C'mon, I have to go before class starts again." I followed her back to her next class, where she hesitated outside of the door.
"Wanda?" I ventured as she put her hand out for the handle. She hesitated, though didn't turn to look at me. I almost chickened out of saying it, but then told myself that if I wanted things to change, I'd have to initiate it. "You know that if you need anythin' from me, you just have to say it." This made her catch my eyes as she searched them for something. She let her hand drop, and closed her eyes.
"I know," she admitted softly, then opened her eyes again. "And I thank you for that. But I can take care of myself." Again I had to fight with myself before deciding to say anything more.
"Jus' 'cause you can doesn't mean you have to, or should; not all the time." I shrugged, and looked down at my feet. That was enough talking for now; I didn't wanna push my luck with her. It was then that I felt a feather-soft hand on my shoulder, and looked up. She was smiling at me kindly, if not with a bit of sorrow behind it. It made my heart skip a beat and suddenly I had to remind myself how to inhale.
"Thank you. Really, I mean it." Then her hand was back on the handle to her class, and no longer touching me. "I'll see you back at the House," she told me then with a wave she was gone. With nothing else to do, I decided to attend my own class in an attempt to make the day pass faster, though a lot of good that did me. All the happened was the human kids, and even the X-Geeks, tossed nasty looks my way. Let them, I didn't care. My mind was elsewhere.
The next few days passed this way, more or less. The only reason I went to school was for her, and when she did come I made sure to be at every class she went to. Every once in a while, when no one was looking, she would make eye contact with me and once I thought I even saw a ghost of a smile on her lips. But every time I tried to approach her when people were around a bit of the old Wanda would surface. Granted, it wasn't as violent before, but it was enough to keep us both entertained. Getting shoved into a locker wasn't half as bad when Wanda did it, especially compared to Duncan. The one thing that did bother me was that the personal visits had stopped. She hadn't come down to my room, and I hadn't been exactly invited to go up to her room, in over a week of this routine. Still, I held out hoping that she would let me be there for her again in the future. Tabby, however, wasn't nearly as optimistic as I was.
"Toad, she's probably playing some game," she told me from a tree I was sitting under one day after school. "You know that you can't trust her."
"No, I don't know that," I pointed out, looking up to see her legs dangling over the branch right above me. "T, what if she actually did change? I mean think 'bout it, yo. She was with that Harkens woman for how long? She learned a lot, I've seen it in her powers. So why couldn't she learn this?" Tabby leaned over to look down at me. At first there was a stubbornness to her face, then she sighed.
"For your sake, I hope you're right. But you know that things don't usually work out like this, right?" Of course I knew. And with that knowledge, I was still hoping against all odds that this was real. I was praying to a God I didn't believe in that Wanda might finally accept me as what I had been all along: Hers.
"Yeah, I know."
"Can I walk with you back to your place?" I knew what she was actually saying. The Brotherhood was still on my case. It was hard to believe that this was continuing on from the Russia trip, but I had nothing else to go off of. There were getting relentless with their attempts, and going alone into that house was always a toss up for me now. When Tabby went with me she would walk with me down to my room and stay with me for a while before leaving. For some reason this seemed to keep their animosity down to a bearable level, so she did it whenever possible.
"Maybe one day I won't have to rely on other people to fight my battles," I remarked sourly, standing up as she jumped down from her perch.
"Awe, c'mon you know it's not like that!" I rolled my eyes, but when she flashed that bright smile at me, lit by that crazy light in her eyes, I had to smile back. "Now let's go. I'm starving!"
"And you think that there's food back at the House? I mean real food, yo. Not that nasty shit that Blob finds edible." She just laughed and linked her arm through mine as we walked. As soon as we got there though, we knew there had been trouble. There was still smoke coming out from the open front door, a hole that had once been a wall, and Wanda was standing on the porch alone with her back to us.
"Uh, I'll see ya at school tomorrow, 'kay Slick?" Tabby asked quietly, not wanting to go near Wanda when she was like this.
"Yeah, I'll catch you later. Thanks for the walk." She gave her two-fingered salute, but her heart wasn't in it and her eyes were on the Scarlet Witch. She knew this was dangerous territory for me to be walking into. Wanda had her back to me, staring off into the distance, so I stopped a good ten feet behind her. "Wanda?" I asked quietly, but she solicited no response. My rational brain told me to leave her to it, walk away and leave her alone. So of course I took a few steps toward her, hesitating before addressing her again. "What happened?" She was rigid and silent for a long time, long enough that I thought she was going to ignore me until I left. That was, until the window next to her shattered. "That bad huh?" I remarked, and finally she turned around.
There was a burning fire of hatred in her eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time, but knew instantly the second I saw it. She had been face to face with Magneto recently. As she looked at me I felt the wood under our feet tremble and I knew if she didn't calm down soon, we would both regret it.
"He came here, to this house. He was looking for me." Her voice shook with loathing, and I could see sparks of a deep scarlet red gathering around her clenched fists.
"What did he want?" I asked, taking another slow step towards her. She didn't even notice, since now she was looking away but still shaking with rage. After her silence, I realized that she wasn't about to tell me. Instead I went with a different question. "What about the others? Blob, Lance, Pietro; where are they?"
"Ran, like the cowards they are. Probably went crawling to Mystique." The name was spat out like acid poison from her mouth, and more flashes of red started to form around her.
"And…?" I wasn't about to say his name, but she understood.
"Gave me an ultimatum. I made my choice, and it wasn't the one he wanted. Then I made him leave." Whoa. Wait. What? NOBODY made Magneto do ANYTHING, ever. That was that. But here was Wanda, his estranged daughter, the last-man-standing at a location he had chosen to approach her on. Maybe I had been underestimating everything that she had learned with Agatha. While I was lost in my thoughts, I guess Wanda was lost in her own because out of nowhere she snarled, pulled her arms up and hurled the pent up anger out of her in the form of a blindingly ruby curse across the space directly in front of her.
When I could see again, I first noticed the gigantic crater that used to be the road and the field across from it. It looked as if the Earth had ripped itself open, spewed lava everywhere, closed then got sucked partly into a black hole. I know my jaw dropped open, but when I turned to look at Wanda my heart twisted nastily inside of me. She was sitting on her knees, holding herself off the porch with one hand while she hugged the upper half of her torso with the other one.
"C'mon, let's get you inside," I said softly to her, hesitating only a second before sliding my arm around her back and the other under her knees. She made no move to resist; she barely even moved at all. I took her to her room, setting her on the bed before going back to close the door and the shades to the window. When I turned back around to see her, I felt a lump grow in my throat. She looked so defeated, so fragile. She was staring off into nothing, as if she had become an empty husk. "Wanda," I whispered softly under my breath. It broke my heart to see her like this. I went to sit by her, not really knowing what to do. I had finally built up the courage to say something when she turned to look at me.
She seemed hesitant, but something in her eyes was desperate, clawing to get out. I locked my gaze with hers, keeping an open expression to let her know as much as I could convey without words. Still, she was holding back. Slowly, I brought my arms up and held them out to her as an open invitation. She watched me blankly for a minute, then pulled herself towards me, letting my arms wrap around her as she laid her head against my chest and shoulders. We stayed like this for what could have been hours, content with one another's company without needing words. I could feel her fall into sleep, exhausted from the day's trials. When I was sure she was out cold, I laid her head on a pillow and pulled a light blanket up around her. For a moment I wondered if I should leave, but decided against it. I wouldn't want her to wake up alone, when she did wake up. Instead I settled myself at the top of her bed, putting her pillow in my lap and thus her head along with it. I watched her sleep and sighed, thinking on how much I wished I could take away all of her pain. Somewhere in there I must have dozed off too, since I woke with a start after the sun had set. My acute hearing picked up a sound I knew all too well: Trouble. And it was headed my way.
Thank you SOOOOO much to demonablackwolf, pointyearsrule, Leo Delkin, and AlvaBlueFyre for being my inspiration! You truly don't know how much it means to me to hear from you And I chose to elaborate of Toad's mutation and add the peppermint smell for a couple of reasons. One, to toss something new in there and two, because he's always seen as grungy and dirty. Just wanted to put a spin on it. The Brotherhood isn't exactly on the good side, but neither are they totally evil. Just…morally challenged. Any other questions I'd be more than happy to clear up. Comments are ALWAYS appreciated!
