A/N: Again, I'm sorry for this chapter's shortness. I made you guys wait nearly a week so I wanted to get this out quickly, so it's a little shorter. Sorry, maybe the action will make up for that. Enjoy.

Two hours later, the door swung open. Rogue's eyes narrowed upon Wanda. "What the hell are you doin' here?"

"Rogue, we need to talk."

"Ah don't want ta talk ta you."

"We need to talk." Wanda walked to the edge of the bed, but didn't sit down. "You don't understand the whole situation, and you need to before Mystique gets here."

Rogue sneered. "Why, ya goin' ta get in trouble with Blue if we don't make up?"

"It's not like that."

"What's it lihke, then?"

"In order to stay here, I have to do something for Mystique. I never meant to hurt you with this; I just had to tell Mystique some of what happened." Wanda bit her lower lip. "I only told her what she absolutely needed to hear."

Rogue's eyes narrowed. "Right. 'Cause Mystique couldn't jus' come straight ta meh with any of this. It's not lihke Ah'm her daughter or nothin'."

"Mystique jus doesn't know how to go about being a mother. We all need help sometimes."

Rogue was still angry. "Why didn't ya tell meh? Why'd ya hide everything behind this wall of lies?"

"I didn't mean it to come off like that. I just-I'm just trying to help, Rogue."

"Well ya do a bang-up job of it. Ah'd like ta know, what gave you the idea that it was alright? Explain ta meh why ya have the right ta go behind mah back, schemin' with Mystique."

Wanda sighed and took a deep breath. "I wasn't scheming with Mystique, I-"

Rogue cut her off harshly. "Bullshit, don't lie ta meh. Ya jus' were pretendin' ta be mah 'friend' all along so ya could report ta Mystique."

"I wasn't pretending-"

"Ya expect meh ta believe that? Ya expect meh to believe that while Ah was tellin' ya all about mah past, mah secrets that Ah never told anybody but Logan, that ya were truly concerned? Damn it! Ah shoulda known by the way ya never told meh anything back! Jus' gather ya information an' report, that's exactly how it is!"

Wanda's teeth clenched. "If you knew about my past, you wouldn't say such stupid things."

"Yeah, well Ah don't know. Ya never shared, 'member? Ya an' your stupid, messed up family with Magneto an' Pietro, how ya never are a sister ta Pietro or a daughter ta your own father. He cried fohr hours after ya unexpectantly hugged him-"

"Shut up." Wanda hissed, "You have no idea what I've gone through."

"Maybe Ah should! Maybe Ah should go through Erik's memories an' find out what damaged ya so bad that ya-"

"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID BITCH!" Wanda looked as if she were about to attack Rogue. "Don't you dare look into his memories," Wanda's eyes were hollow and reddening. She was about to cry. Rogue had never seen Wanda cry. "Don't you dare invade my privacy. I'll kill you, you-you fucking leech!" The tears fell. Wanda turned on her heel and left.

Hot, angry tears slid down Rogue's cheeks. She buried her face in her blanket and struggled to strangle the usually comforting sheet. Wanda would pay for her lies.

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Pietro watched the scene unfold in ridged terror, unable to move, speak, to do anything.

Wanda was sprawled over the body, hugging it, weeping, shaking, broken. Erik stared down, aghast. Lorna, his Lorna, his youngest, most innocent daughter, his world, was dead. He fell to his knees and crawled over to her still, pale frame. "Lorna!" The cry was ripped from his throat in a heart-wrenching cry that wasn't remotely human, like the cry of a dying animal.

Wanda's head flicked up and shining green eyes fell upon him in horror. Red-rimmed, empty, lifeless, she choked on her own tears, falling back from the corpse so that he could behold her features.

She was still. Hair splayed out behind her head like a halo of shimmering gold, framing her head. Color-drained eyes stared straight ahead, forever staring at nothing, but seeing everything. Her lips were slightly parted, already loosing their red color, they were pale and deranged. But the thing that was most obvious. The one that drew his eyes immediately, it was the first thing he saw and his eyes remained fixated on the spot. A little, tiny hole at the base of her forehead, centered perfectly in the middle of her eyebrows. Red blood was smeared across her forehead, but the hole couldn't be avoided. A perfect, tiny circle formed from a tiny scrap of metal.

Drawn, Erik let his hand hover above her face. Out of the hole lifted the tiniest, blunted bullet. The bullet that had killed her. That had taken her away from him forever. She had been killed by the tiniest scrap of metal, the one thing he had the most control over.

Erik's eyes lifted to Wanda, the bullet still hovering under his palm. Her outfit was the customary red, revealing piece that she always were. Her auburn, almost red locks, danced before her eyes, swaying in the breeze. Her face was covered in flecks of blood. Smeared blood covered her delicate lips. She had kissed Lorna goodbye already. All Erik saw was red.

It was impossible to completely follow what happened, except in memory, everything was recorded. The bullet that hovered under Erik's palm sped and ricocheted directly at Wanda. It struck her stomach and dove deep. Wanda screamed.

Erik rose to his full height. Metal flew around him, gathering. The metal cupped around Wanda's hands. She couldn't direct her magic. She couldn't protect herself. More metal flew; the gray color only reminded Erik of Lorna's pale frame. She was pinned under it. He closed his fist.

The metal started tightening around her frame. Wanda's screams were lost to him, he only saw red, heard red, felt red. Bones crackled under the pressure. Confused, hurt, deadened eyes stared in horror. "Daddy…" Forced, strained under weight, barely audible.

The metal stopped squeezing. "You killed her."

Tears were not enough to describe the anguish Wanda felt, and none of it came from her broken bones or the encompassing metal. "I wasn't fast enough."

Some of the metal fell away. She was still floating in the air by the two metal gloves that encompassed her hands, stopping her from doing anything to fight back. Erik walked up to her. He touched her chin and wiped away the blood smeared on her lips. His hand flew back and hit her across the jaw. It hurt more than any of the metal had. "Daddy…"

"I have no daughter. Not anymore." With that, he flicked his hand. Wanda flew back through the trees, cracking branches, breaking more tender bones, bruising, by the metal that surrounded her hands. The fort came into sight. Wanda gasped.

"No daddy! No!" The place she had escaped from, the place she tried to carry Lorna out of. The place that Lorna had died. The place of torture, where her father had promised to save her from. He brought her back.

The guards saw her coming, directed by an unseen force. Pietro could hear her screams miles away. Erik started hating all humans. That day, he became Magneto.

Pietro sat up in bed, breathing hard and sweating. He took a deep, calming breath and threw off the covers. Pulling on new clothes, he went outside and zipped out of sight. In another few seconds, he was at Erik's base. He entered and found Erik in his room, sitting casually on the bed.

"Father?"

Erik looked up at him and stood up. "My son." He held out his arms and Pietro walked into them, hugging his father back. "Have you spoken to her?"

"Not yet, father. I will soon, but…father, I'm afraid her answer will be no different."

Erik let go of his son and inspected him from a short distance. "I suspect as much. I'm thinking of a trade."

"What kind of trade?"

"I will kidnap Rogue and barter with Mystique for Wanda."

Pietro bit his lip. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Erik was old, he was much frailer than before he was hit with the cure, and he was weaker, but one thing he was better for. He was smarter. Mystique needed her daughter as much as he needed Wanda. She would do anything to get her back. "I'm positive."

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"You what?!"

"It was a mistake. I didn't mean to let it slip." Without warning, Mystique spun around fast and kicked hard. Wanda hadn't expected the sudden attack. The kick landed harshly against her lower jaw and she was lifted off her feet to fall back, landing lopsided on her side. The attack didn't stop. Another kick found its target against the side of her cheek, jarring her head back. A strong, tight grip wrapped around her throat. Once again, her feet left the ground and Wanda found herself staring down at two angry, yellow eyes as her air was cut off.

"We don't make mistakes." Claws extended out of the blue woman's knuckles and she brought them close to Wanda's face. Wanda was choking, black dots had already started to appear in front of her eyes, but she didn't show Mystique her discomfort. Mystique grazed the cheek that wasn't swelling and three red streaks of blood started falling from Wanda's cheek. Mystique's teeth clenched and she threw Wanda to the side carelessly. Wanda began to cough, taking in breaths of air that she had lacked. "If it happens again, I'll make sure you're not around to make a third mistake. Tell your brother the same." Yellow eyes glared down at Wanda's sprawled form against the carpeted form. "Get out of my sight."

Wanda left, not cowardly crawling or struggling, but walking straight out. She shut the door behind her and only then did she bring up her hand against the side of her cheek. It came away sticky and wet, covered in fresh blood. Her jaw ached from the cheek all the way down. Wanda began making her way to the kitchen to find an ice pack.

A whiz of air ruffled her hair and then suddenly pulled back and stopped. "Wanda? I've been looking for you."

Wanda continued walking. "What do you want, Pietro?"

Pietro jogged a short way to catch up with her and grabbed her arm to stop her progress. He put a hand gently against the side of her face, turned her head slightly, and inspected the damage. "Did Mystique do this? Are you alright?"

Wanda slapped his hand away. "Since when have you started caring?" She began walking again. Pietro followed.

"It's about dad." Wanda's jaw tightened, she fought to keep her eyes forward and her legs moving. "Wanda, we want you to come back."

"That's never going to happen. We had a deal, Pietro. You can stay around if you want to 'watch' me, but I'm never going to return to him."

"He's different. He's sorry. It was panic of the moment, Wanda. He didn't mean to hurt you."

Wanda's eyes narrowed and she finally stopped, turning to Pietro. "He didn't mean to hurt me? He nearly killed me, Pietro; he stripped me of all my dignity. He's the reason I don't trust you or anybody anymore." Her voice was low, in a dangerous hushed tone so she wouldn't be overheard. "He ruined my life. I will never return to that monster."

"He's going to try to force you to come home again."

"He can try." Wanda began walking again. "Never worked before."

"He's going to kidnap Rogue."

Wanda didn't even break step. "Let him."

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The door slowly creaked open. Rogue tightened her jaw and willed herself not to cry in front of whoever it was. Remy's familiar form filled the doorway. He was carrying a plate of food. "Hey, River Rat."

Rogue closed her eyes. "Please, leave meh alone."

"Non." The bed tilted as an extra weight was added. Rogue opened her eyes in time to see Remy put down the plate on the counter next to Rogue's head. Remy sat on the edge of the bed, sitting upright and not smiling for once. Rogue almost missed that smile. "Dere be dings y' gotta understand, cherie. Dey may not be dings y' like, but y' gotta understand dem."

"Ah understand that betrayal is betrayal. There's nothin' more to understand about it." Rogue replied harshly, gaining back nerve at Remy's refusal to leave.

"She was jus' doin' her job, Rogue."

"So that entitles her ta pretend ta be mah friend when really, she's jus' wantin' meh ta tell her everythin' so she cahn relay it ta mah mother." Rogue's accent was growing thicker the angrier she became. "An' what about ya? Ya are up here on Mystique's orders too, aren't ya? Why should Ah even care about anythin' mah mother wants ya ta say ta meh? You…you were jus' pretendin' too."

"Mystique doesn't know I'm here." At the back of her mind, she barely registered that he was speaking first person again. "Dere's more t' de situation dan the simplistic way y' puttin' it, an' y' know dat Rogue. Y' not stupid. Neither of us were pretendin' t' be y' friend an' I'm not pretendin' t' do nothin' here either. Wanda an' me, we care fo' y' well bein'. She told Mystique de barest minimum, an' only what would be fo' y' good. Mystique's enraged wit' Wanda fo' not tellin' her everythin'."

Rogue's fight was gone. Everything Remy had said, she knew it was true. "Ah…how could Mystique do this ta meh…"

"Will y' talk t' Wanda?"

"Ah don't think she wants ta talk ta meh." Rogue hesitated, "Ah…said some stuff Ah shouldn't have."

"Did y' mention her father?"

Rogue nodded slowly, her eyes glued to the blanket. "Ah was jus' so mad…Ah threatened ta search Erik's memories."

Remy sighed. "Dat might be a problem."

"She told you about her past?"

Remy shook his head. "Non. I gathered some from differn' encounters. Not de whole picture, but enough t' know."

"Will you tell meh?"

Remy shook his head again. "She'll tell y' if she wants. Not my place." Remy stood up.

"You're leavin'?"

"Have t' fix de wall with Wanda. Was quite a mess."

Rogue fell back against her pillows. "Oh. Okay."

"I'll try t' talk t' her, Roguey. Y' jus' be a good girl, oui?"

Rogue gave him a brave smile that she didn't feel. "Yeah, okay. Bye Remy."

Remy left. Rogue sighed and closed her eyes deeply. Something wrapped around her mouth and Rogue's eyes shot open. A foul, white cloth was wrapped around her mouth and as Rogue inhaled, she felt dizzy. Unconsciousness danced before her vision, she tried to turn her head to see her attacker, but it was too late. Rogue fell limply into the covers and the attacker began their work. The very voices in Rogue's mind screamed in protest.