"Where are you goin'?" Toad asked as he caught up to her.
"To fight back," Wanda said darkly. He slipped his hand into hers, then pulled her to a stop so she would face him.
"Wanda, you know we can't take the fight to him; not yet. We have to wait until we have the upper hand, otherwise-"
"He'll slaughter us like dog, I know." She let out a slow breath then gave him a reassuring smile. "I just have an idea of where to find that upper hand." Toad knew how Wanda could get when Magneto was involved.
"I'm going with you," he insisted. Wanda hesitated.
"I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" she asked with a small smile. She was growing very fond of Toad's constant stability. Especially after their all-nighter on the roof… she pulled her thoughts from that for the moment.
"Nope. I'm here ta stay," he affirmed. Wanda crossed her arms but couldn't bit back the grin that was fighting its way out.
"Fine, just- don't freak out."
"Not freaking out," Toad promised and fell in step with her. "Where are we goin', anyway?" he asked. They had left the residential corridors and were now headed toward the infirmary.
"To visit an old friend," Wanda told him before she pushed the doors open and walked down the aisles of beds filled with people. She offered no glance to any of them but pushed forward through another set of doors and into almost complete darkness.
"Close the doors, I'll be with you in a moment," called an elderly voice. As Toad's eyes adjusted he could see the room wasn't completely pitch black. Near the back there were some candles that cast light around a woman who had their back to them.
"Agatha," said Wanda. Instantly the woman straightened and turned. She fixed her eyes on Wanda then spoke a word that let the room erupt into light. Agatha still dressed in the dark dresses that Wanda remembered; with her hair pulled straight back into a tight bun.
"Well, come here child, let me take a look at you," she instructed. As soon as Wanda moved forward Agatha's eyes sharpened on Toad. Though she looked disapproving, she said nothing. When Wanda stood before her, the old woman looked her up and down then nodded.
"I want you to teach me, Agatha."
"I have already taught you all I know of chaos magic," Agatha told her evenly. Wanda shook her head.
"Not chaos magic. I want to learn what you do; I want to learn Witchcraft." Toad's eyes widened at this, but Agatha seemed to be expecting it.
"You do not know what you are asking, Wanda." Before Wanda could argue, Agatha continued. "But I will teach you the beginning steps of the Craft. Once you gather a basic understand of this request, you may wish to reconsider."
"And if I don't reconsider?" asked Wanda. Agatha inclined her head slightly.
"I will teach you all I know," Agatha conceded. Her eyes flicked back to Toad. "And the boy?" Toad frowned at being called a 'boy' but since Wanda still allowed Agatha to refer to her as 'child' he said nothing.
"He comes with me," Wanda replied firmly. Agatha didn't push it.
"We start now. Follow me."
They would their way up a spiral staircase to Agatha's room, which used to be an astronomy tower. Candles dripped wax into clusters all over the wooden floor, crystals of every color adorned the window sills and multicolored glass bottled riddled the shelves between old, weathered books. Agatha's bed was shoved off to the side to make room in the center of the tower. She went to one of the many shelves and pulled out a white lump of chalk, then turned to address them. Toad was caught gawking at the symbols that had been seemingly burned into the glass pane of one of the windows.
"It is custom for a girl to be taught the Path at a very young age, ten being the oldest anyone should be taught." Wanda, now being twenty-seven, waited for Agatha to continue as to why she would still consider teaching her. "After ten, the ideas of the world are more cemented, and it is much harder to change a lifestyle. You are the greatest exception, and only due to your travels into the other realm."
"What does that have to do with Witchcraft?" Wanda asked. Agatha was now busy drawing something on the floor, but continued to speak to Wanda as calmly and evenly as before.
"The Path, or Craft, deals with things that you alone have a greater understanding of. The basis of the Path is found in balance of all things, but especially those which you wish to command. The first thing a new witch must understand is the balance of the elements. From what I have gathered of your time in the other realm, you used new knowledge of the elements through teachers in each to hone your own chaos magic. You already know more about each element than any other person in this realm." Wanda was starting to see where she was going with this. Because she had been able to enhance her own magic by adapting some of the things she learned from the different benders, she now would be able to apply that directly to Witchcraft.
Toad watched with interest as the drawing Agatha was creating began to take on a familiar shape: a five pointed star inside of a circle known as a pentagram, but then she added a straight line directly down the middle of the star all the way through to the bottom of the circle.
"You may sit over there, Todd," instructed Agatha. She made a pulling motion and all of the books that were stacked on a chair dumped themselves on the floor so that the chair could free itself and move to the space next to the bed.
"Uh, thanks," said Toad nervously. What was Wanda getting herself into?
"I also understand that one of your close friends in the other realm taught you something about the spirit?" Agatha asked Wanda.
"Aang, yes. He was the bridge between the spirit world and the physical world. He told me a bit about it." Agatha 'hmm'ed gently then turned to face the diagram on the floor.
"This is a pentagram. Each point represents a different element: Water, Earth, Air, Fire and Spirit." She used her finger to point at which point stood for which element.
"Why is the top, the Spirit, split down the middle?" Wanda asked.
"Because a witch must be composed of perfect balance, even in spirit. She must have one foot in darkness and the other in light." As Agatha directed Wanda to stand with one foot on either side of the line and directly in the center of the pentagram, Toad spoke up.
"You keep sayin' 'she'. Aren't there any male, uh, witches?"
"A man wants for few things; all that which are not his. A man is simple. A woman is much more complex simply due to what she is made of. Every woman is given a gift and a burden of being one part angel and one part demon. A woman has the essence of both extremes in her at any time to draw upon. There are very very few men who have this complexity, but yes there are male witches. It comes easier to women who are used to balancing the light and dark within themselves."
Sorry I asked, thought Toad to himself and placed his head in his hands to watch.
"Wanda, tell me what you have learned of each element's energy." Wanda thought a moment, picturing the lessons that Katara, Aang, Toph and Iroh or Zuko had taught her. Still the thought of Zuko stung but she pushed past it.
"Earth is strong, but stable. It always persists even against the worst odds. Water is easily adaptable, and it smoothes the roughest courses down over time. Air is tranquil and serene; it hears and sees all but never stays in one place long. And fire-" Wanda took a breath and continued. "Fire is passion, anger and love. Fire isn't burdened by rules but forges its own path. And, just like all of the elements, it brings life but also wreaks destruction."
"Good. And Spirit?" prompted Agatha.
"Spirit… is on a different plane. Nothing can be achieved without it. Spirit is the key to everything that exists."
"Excellent. Your grasp is impressive. I can see it in your movements as well as your words. You have walked the path of each element and learned what it could teach you. Can you feel them when you call to them?" At first Wanda didn't understand, but then thought for a moment. Whenever she used her magic to fly she had to remember the lessons that Aang taught her. Only now she didn't think of Aang, but the air itself. She couldn't demand of it like she did for hexfire, nor let it flow out of her when she used waves of magic. She weaved it in her, through her, until she was able to join with it.
"Yes," she answered in a surprised voice.
"Call them to you," Agatha told her.
"All of them at once?" she asked. The elder witch nodded. Wanda took a deep breath then closed her eyes. At first nothing happened. Spirit, she thought to herself. Without Spirit, nothing else matters. That's where she'd have to begin. How do you call your spirit? Before she could even form the question entirely, the answer was right there before her: A mental image of a scarlet fire. That's how she saw herself in her mind's eye. This was her spirit. She inhaled it into her, letting it fill her completely before calling the other four. After enabling her spirit, the other elements seemed to rush into her with little to no effort at all. When she felt them all buzzing beneath her surface she opened her eyes and gasped.
The pentagram that Agatha had drawn was now streaming a brilliant solid white light where the chalk used to be. It bathed the room in a soft glow and seemed to awaken everything its light touched. Wanda was watching a cluster of candles before they burst into life and the flame greedily lapped down the wicks. The window that Wanda had turned to look at burst open with a gust of wind that swept through the room. The sprouts of plants that had been growing in a planter outside the window erupted into full blossomed life as Wanda's gaze flicked over them, throwing out petals of purple red and yellow months before their time. Just as she looked up, the fire sprinkler just above her burst open with enough strength to force the metal head off and pour water down onto her. Wanda threw her arms up in defense and, to her surprise, the water wound cat-like around her arms and down her body without ever touching her. Eventually Wanda's eyes found their way to Agatha who, for the first time in her life, seemed genuinely aghast.
"What?" Wanda asked. "Was this not supposed to happen?" It took several long moments before Agatha found her voice.
"What is happening, what you just did… takes most witches a lifetime to accomplish. Some never do." Wanda used some of the movements Katara had taught her to direct the water into an empty vase. Agatha watched her with wide eyes as she also coaxed the breeze back out the window. She let the candles be for the moment, and there was nothing she could do about the fully blossomed flowers.
"That's a good thing, right?" she asked as she steadied herself. The rush that each of elements gave her left her a little breathless.
"Wanda, there's something you need to know," Agatha responded softly. "Release the elements please." Agatha had never said please to Wanda in her entire life. It must be serious. Slowly she released each of the four physical elements then allowed Spirit to fade from her as well. As soon as she did this, the chalk stopped glowing and returned to normal. She stepped out of the pentagram and sat on the floor beside Toad.
"Wanda, that was amazing," he said to her gently. She smiled up at him. Agatha came over and paced before them before standing tall and looking down at the Scarlet Witch.
"I realize now that I should have told you this sooner, but I had no idea how far you had advanced," she supplied.
"Told me what?" Wanda asked with an edge in her voice. She hated being kept in the dark, especially with things the dealt with her directly.
"Wanda, in order to understand my concern of teaching you the Path, you must understand your own beginning."
"I know my beginning," Wanda replied harshly. "Hard to forget your father locking you in an asylum because you can't control your powers." Toad placed a hand on her shoulder. Agatha shook her head.
"Much farther back from that. Something not even Magneto understands fully." This surprised Wanda. What could her father not know about her? And why didn't she know this herself? "It happened only a few days after you were born," Agatha continued. "At the time there was a great battle that was taking place, though you will never hear of it again. All battles between witches and Chaos are kept in the shadows so that others cannot interfere. It was nearing the end, and Chaos was losing ground. Then something unforeseen happened. The demon Cthon manipulated a mere child into becoming his vessel on Earth. This child was infused with raw chaos magic so that Cthon could use her as a foothold when he returned. Luckily he was banished from this realm shortly after that, never to return. But the child still lived with these powers which, when used in conjunction with her natural mutant ability, left no bounds or limits."
"You're kidding me, right?" Wanda asked. "Not only are you telling me demons are real, but that I was possessed by one?" Agatha shook her head.
"Not possessed; infused with chaos magic, and thus the ability to wield chaos as a magical ability." Wanda still looked skeptical. "Have you ever experienced a loss of power when natural chaos was taking place? Has an earthquake, a storm, a volcano erupting ever depleted your use of your chaos magic?" Wanda remembered back to those stormy nights, when the rain was pouring down in sheets outside her window and the thunder shook the dilapidated house. When she felt hollow inside, and helpless, that's when Pietro would find her and take advantage of her lack of power-
"And that means I'm demonic?" she demanded angrily.
"It means that you have power beyond this realm. And it also gives you a strong disposition toward chaos. There is no good and evil in this world Wanda, only Chaos and Balance. Total order is just as evil as total chaos, in its own way. The Path is what every witch must walk, directly down the middle between Chaos and Order. Most choose to live in the middle, never extending too far to one side. Some, however, choose to live on both sides of the extreme, as I fear you must do as the teachings of the Path have come too late to alter your lifestyle. If you are going to continue learning the Craft, you are turning yourself into a vessel of Balance. If you favor one side too much, the other is allowed to reap vengeance which would end your life completely."
This was all too much for Wanda to take in at once. She shut her eyes and put her head in her hands. It was Toad who spoke up for her.
"So, Wanda's powers come from a demon that you guys nixed around the time she was born. What does that mean her mutant powers are?" he asked, mostly to give time for Wanda to process all of this and also out of curiosity.
"Probability." Agatha answered. "Had she not become the Nexus Being, she would have remained a mutant who could affect outcomes in her favor and cause things to happen out of her manipulation of probability."
"Nexus Being?" she asked from her hands. "What the fuck is that?"
"A living focal point for the Earth dimension's magical energy," Agatha said.
"This is crazy! How is one person supposed to do so much?" Wanda stipulated.
"You do not have to follow the Path, Wanda. It was you who came to me," Agatha replied. "I told you that you might reconsider after discovering what you were truly asking.
"You don't need ta do this," Toad told her gently. "You only came here 'causa Magneto. We can beat him without going here." The name of her father sobered Wanda up drastically. Her thoughts whirled for a few moments more before she met Agatha's eyes.
"No. I can do this. I will do this." Agatha seemed unsurprised by this announcement. "You knew all along, didn't you? How?"
"Each witch can choose a practice and a way to work for the Balance, but our Path is chosen for us. You are mine- it is my Path to teach you."
"What about when I disappeared for seven years?" she inquired.
"I knew you would be back. I had not fulfilled my purpose."
"And now?" Wanda asked. "Where do we go from here?"
"Away from here. You are very advanced and the Craft comes naturally to you, but terrible things can happen around a witch who is still learning. I have a small cabin a ways from here. There you will be safe to learn and practice as you need to." Wanda thought only a moment more, then met Toad's eyes.
"Let's go."