Author: Lucinda
Fourteenth in the Family Tree series.
Rated Y-14/T-for-teen; content similar to the BtVS series, the X-Men movies, and the Marvel comics.
Disclaimer: Willow, Cordelia, and all other people from the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the creations of Joss Whedon & his writing staff. Vic, Mystique, and all other people recognizable from the X-Men movie or comics belong to Marvel Comics and/or Marvel Entertainment. Alazcia belongs to Joe. I do have some original characters that belong to me.
Distribution: if you have permission for the earlier Family Tree stories, yes.
Notes: s2 BtVS (altered), post X-men movie #1
The bells over the door rattled and chimed, alerting Tracie to the fact that someone was entering her house. She didn't know who, and she hadn't been expecting any company. Carefully, she grabbed a tall glass of room temperature holy water in her weak arm, her shoulder still healing from being shot. In her other, she had a pistol. She hoped that she wouldn't need to use it, her aim wasn't the best even in ideal circumstances. Hopefully, the apparent threat would be enough - hopefully, she wouldn't need any sort of threat.
"You won't need that, Tracie." Her aunt Raven's voice was calm, perhaps with a hint of pleasure. She had a new look, with shoulder length dark hair and a blandly formal navy skirt suit.
"I wasn't expecting anybody. Certainly not you and your friend." Tracie wondered just what sort of relationship her aunt had with the woman behind her. She was a bit shorter than her aunt, with dark hair and plain clothing, a worn pair of jeans, solid boots, and gray shirt with long sleeves. She looked unremarkable, even including the worn duffel slung over her shoulder.
"This is Alazcia, Alazcia, meet my niece Tracie." Raven sauntered inside, her hand gesturing as she tossed out names.
"And why are you here?" Tracie asked, certain that the answer wouldn't be that her aunt had missed her. Raven didn't do things just out of sentiment, and if she'd just dropped in for a family visit, she wouldn't have brought some stranger along.
Raven closed the door, locking it behind her. "I need a tiny favor."
"A favor?" Tracie had a bad feeling about this. Her aunt had some great qualities, but she found more trouble than anybody should even be able to think of in one lifetime. "I'm almost afraid to ask."
"Alazcia needs a place to stay for a while." Raven shrugged, her features blurring from her disguise to her real features, the red hair and blue skin decidedly more memorable than the dark hair and pale complexion that she'd had when she came in.
"Why here?" Tracie sighed, sitting down and dropping the gun into her lap. "Why with me?"
"Because none of the people who are looking for me will think to look in this place for a long time." Alazcia's voice was low, and carried an accent that Tracie couldn't quite identify. In the light, she could see that there were faint speckles along the woman's temples, brushing down to her cheekbones and over the sides of her neck.
"Why are they looking for you?" Tracie hoped that her aunt wasn't about to involve her in one of her frightful 'adventures'. It also occurred to her to wonder how she would explain this to Xander, especially since the real truth wouldn't do. "Are you legally in this country?"
"They look for me because they are scientists without..." Alazcia paused, clearly searching for the right word to use. "Hesitations. Their intentions are unfriendly, painful, and probably illegal, and I was chosen simply because I have some small differences."
"Oh crap." Tracie muttered, now certain that things were ugly and might get uglier. "I'm going to need to explain you being here somehow."
"Why?" Raven's voice was sharp, suspicious. "If she remains in the house and doesn't go out too much..."
"I have a boyfriend, aunt Raven. He has been over to visit occasionally." Tracie sighed, rubbing at her temples. She had the feeling that this was going to be a long night.
"A boyfriend?" Raven sounded stunned, and then her eyes narrowed. "Is he... human?"
"Yes. Xander's human, and he's nice." Tracie smiled, hoping that her aunt would understand. "He didn't even freak out about the blue."
For a moment, it looked like her aunt was going to blow a blood vessel right there. When she finally spoke, each word was clipped out sharply. "How does he know?"
"He was with me when I got shot." Tracie spoke slowly, certain that her aunt would flip about the whole mess. "I lost my concentration and reverted, and he saw me. The doctor did, a couple nurses, and his friend and her bodyguard. There's nothing that can be done about it now."
"What do you mean, you were shot?" It sounded as if her aunt was planning bloody murder to the person responsible.
"It was a stray bullet." Tracie tried to shrug it off, to deflect her aunt. "I'm getting better."
"Alazcia will have to teach you self defense. I want you to be able to drop a gunman before he can fire." Her aunt's words were an order.
Tracie and Alazcia both sat there as Raven stalked over the to the door, pausing a moment to unlock it before storming off into the night. She was muttering under her breath in an assortment of languages, and there wasn't a single polite word among them.
Finally, Tracie broke the silence. "So, I guess this means it's a good thing that I have a spare bedroom, right?"
end part 1.
Willow sighed as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. She could hear Carl snoring faintly, and Vic was moving downstairs. Last night had been full of troubled dreams, worries borne from the rumors that her parents had brought back from their last trip. For a few minutes, she sat there, sipping at her juice and trying to think clearly about the rumors.
"Hey, you ready for a morning run?" She asked, certain that Vic would hear her, even if she was in the kitchen and he was down in the basement. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have hearing that good - wouldn't the whole world be very noisy?
The knob rattled as the basement door swung open. Vic rumbled, "Do we stop at the waffle house afterwards?"
"I guess we can." Willow drank the last of her juice, and put the glass in the sink. "There's enough time that we can have a run and swing back past here before school. I couldn't sleep very well last night."
"Those rumors." He growled, not a question but an angry statement.
"Yeah." Willow started putting a braid in her hair, and sighed. "They worry me, especially since they're so widespread. If they started out of nowhere, wouldn't they have fizzled? Or is it just that it's an interesting story?"
"Not sure if those are better or worse than thinking about Cordelia." He muttered.
"Well, you can do something about the Cordelia situation, as soon as you figure out what it actually is." Willow offered, still a bit uncertain how she felt about Vic becoming involved with Cordelia. "But what can we do about those rumors?"
Willow walked out of the house, trying not to feel nervous when she heard the lock click behind her. She could unlock it again, she'd proved that in San Diego. Everyone else was asleep, they were safe with the door locked.
Their run started ordinarily enough, the pre-dawn air cool and humid. Willow was trying to work on her control, and instead of carrying her wire wrapped spear, she was using her abilities to pull it through the air along beside her. It didn't poke her in the sides as much that way, unless she forgot to tell it to turn when she did, which always made Vic snicker a little bit and then pretend that he hadn't laughed at all.
He growled as they passed the ice cream shop, looking around with wary, unhappy eyes.
"Vic?" What's wrong?" Willow stopped, her hand going to the spear in concern. Were they about to be attacked, or was it something that had happened earlier?
"Mystique was here." He sniffed again, a low growl filling the air. "She wasn't alone."
Hesitantly, Willow asked, "Who was with her?"
"I..." He paused, frowning. "I don't know. I know that I've smelled her before, but I don't remember where."
"You know that you've smelled her before, but not where or when." Willow murmured, puzzling over what he'd said. "So, she's either from way back in your past or from close to the time that you lost the memories?"
"When they were taken. I knew her there. They hurt us all..." He didn't even seem to be thinking about the words.
"Maybe you can figure out where they went while I'm in school then?" Willow suggested. "I'm supposed to train with Giles and maybe Buffy this afternoon, that'll give you some time to search."
Vic nodded, still looking a bit distracted. "Right. Weren't we going to have waffles? And there's bacon and sausage and ham..."
"None of which are kosher." Willow grinned.
"More for me then." He shrugged, and they started moving towards the waffle house for breakfast.
end part 2.
Willow sat with Buffy at lunch, near one of the windows. Part of her wished that she could just go out, relax in the fresh air, but another part of her wanted to get as much from school as she could. College would be harder, especially if the rumors about 'Willow the mutant' made it harder to get admitted, if not impossible.
Buffy was just picking at her salad. Not the sort of picking that says 'I have no desire to eat this', but the sort that hinted at worries and unhappiness.
"Buffy?" Willow asked, waving her hand in front of her friends face. "Is it an evil salad?"
"No, it's not the salad, though it is a bit wilted." Buffy smiled weakly. "It's... me and Angel. We're sort of having a few problems."
"Like that dance you did with Xander?" Part of her wanted to be the sympathetic friend, but Willow felt that Buffy had caused a lot of hurt feelings with that dance.
"No." Buffy tried to glare. "That was just... I was..."
Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, it was a dumb thing to do. I just wanted to... I wanted to make him jealous." Buffy floundered, her cheeks turning pink. "I wanted him to try a little harder, to chase me, you know?"
"It upset Tracie, and she and Xander had a few arguments there. It hurt Angel - did you expect him to go all caveman and beat up his rival? Or maybe throw you over his shoulder and carry you away?" Willow asked.
"I'm not going to let myself get carried away like that!" Buffy protested. "I'm..."
Willow sighed, knowing that Buffy meant that she was the Slayer, and couldn't afford to let herself be kidnapped, even in play. "You set him up to feel jealous in a situation where he couldn't do anything about it."
"It sounds harsh when you put it like that." Buffy sighed. "It's just... I keep wondering where I stand with him, and I can't read him like the guys here, or back in LA."
"Buffy, why don't you just talk to him, instead of making all these little tests? He's older, " Willow paused, knowing that the number of years older that Angel could claim was over two centuries, "He's older, but he's still a guy. Guys don't think the same way we do, and Angel probably just feels like he's doing something wrong and has no idea what. Try talking to him. Or just break up and find someone whose signals you can read."
The more Willow thought about it, the worse the idea of Buffy and Angel together actually sounded. Yeah, he was handsome, and he did that mysterious thing really well, but... Buffy's destiny was to kill vampires, and however much nicer he was than the rest, Angel was still a vampire. A vampire and someone destined to kill vampires just didn't sound like it could possibly end well. More like Romeo and Juliet, with everybody dead or weeping over the dead bodies of all their loved ones. Maybe if they were both willing to make some big compromises they could manage something, at least for a while, but neither one really seemed likely to bend that much.
"Everything will be fine, I hope." Buffy sighed, and stood up, tray in hand. "I'm out of here, I have to go have some emergency study for that French test. I think I'm failing. This morning I managed to say 'the cow has touched me from Thursday', and that was just... way wiggy."
"The cow has what?" Willow didn't know if she wanted to laugh or... well, yes, she did want to laugh. She just thought it might be bad to laugh in Buffy's face. "Go, study very hard."
For a few moments, Willow sat there, pondering everything. Xander was coping fairly well with her mutation, with Tracie being blue, and with life still being generally unfair. Mystique, who might be related to Tracie, had been in town with someone that Vic had met or known or something before his memories were gone, and he wanted to find her and figure out what was up. Buffy and Angel were having more problems. Vic and Cordelia... hmm, maybe she could see what Cordelia had to say about their date?
She made her way out of the lunchroom, feeling faintly guilty as she did. Students weren't supposed to wander blindly around the school whenever and wherever they wanted. Straightening her shoulders, she made her way down the hall, ignoring the wisp of smoke that came from the little bathroom near the cafeteria. Sheila and her crowd were smoking again, hopefully just cigarettes. Now there was a bad influence at school.
Devon was trying to talk to Cordelia. The guy was a year older, and in a band, both of which made him sound like 'a good catch' to other girls. What were they talking about?
"Come on, Cordy. It'll be a great party," Devon wheedled. "You'll have a blast."
"You mean, I'll get toasted and you'll have to take me home?" Cordelia snapped. "I don't think so. I've already got plans for the weekend."
"Maybe I should just ask Harmony then," Devon sulked. "I'm sure she'd jump at the chance."
"Fine, take Harmony," Cordelia muttered, pushing a book into her locker. "Not like you'd be the first person."
Devon glared, caught sight of Willow and retreated, muttering something under his breath.
"Should I apologize for interrupting?" Willow asked, not feeling very upset.
"It's just Devon, and he left," Cordelia waved her hand in dismissal. "So, how's life?"
"Mmm. Life is weird. My parents think it's neat but harmless that I can juggle bottle-caps." Willow leaned against the row of lockers, and offered a tiny smile. "So, should I ask about your weekend plans?"
"Are they that dense, or are they trying to be blind?" Cordelia goggled. "Anyhow, I was thinking... the woods had this giant spider thing, which was really gross. I thought maybe Vic and I could go to the beach, or something. Away from giant spiders."
"So, you're serious about him?" Willow asked, unsure if she really wanted to know. "As for my parents, I really don't know. I'm not sure it makes a difference."
"I don't know about me and Vic. He's interesting, and handsome in a rough and scary sort of way, and..." Cordelia sighed, and looked at her hand. "I think I'd like to find out."
"Well, good luck to both of you," Willow smiled. It felt better to know that Cordelia was human enough not to know everything that would happen. "Just... take it easy on the perfume. He's got a really good nose."
end part 3.
Willow made her way towards the library, figuring that she might as well finish her lunch period there. Besides, she wanted to talk to Giles about her training, and if there were any suggestions that he might have for her. Maybe it would be better to get that handled before Buffy showed up for her training anyhow.
"Hey Giles." She called, glancing over the library with her eyes and feeling with her mind to see if she could sense anybody. Every living creature was supposed to have a bio-electrical and magnetic field, which was currently under a lot of research, especially for medical and communications areas. What that meant for her was that she should be able to sense things without her eyes or ears, but by using her mutation. It sounded good in theory, but so far, she pretty much had to see them to feel them. If she could develop that as sort of a personal radar, and if humans felt different than demons... Oh, did vampires have a bio-electrical field?
But there was only one other presence in the library. Moving towards the back, she peeked cautiously around a corner, relieved that it was just Giles. But it was probably good to get the practice, just in case something happened, right? "Giles, I was wondering... umm... Did you have any other suggestions, you know, for that self defense we were talking about?"
"Willow." He rubbed at his eyes, and closed the book that he'd been focused on. He opened a drawer and dropped the book inside it, a sure sign that he wasn't in a sharing mood. "I think you need to work on the defensive strategies. On evading grabs, especially if you can practice evading or slipping holds from someone with greater strength than yours. Most of the dangers... are stronger than you are."
"Okay..." Willow blinked, and noticed the way he seemed to be avoiding looking right at her. "Giles, is something wrong? You'd tell me if there was something really wrong, right? Is there... Is Buffy in danger?"
"I'm not aware of either of you being in more danger than before, but..." He sighed, and motioned her towards the practice area. "I've heard some disturbing rumors involving mutants. Some have the mutants as the danger, while others..."
"Horrendously painful experiments on mutants? Illegal things that start with someone just vanishing from home and might lead to painful death?" Willow shivered, and looked at the floor. "My parents heard some of those at their last conference."
"Those do sound rather like the rumors that I've heard." He pushed a chair further to the side, and changed the angle of the table. "Perhaps we should work on a few of those evasions now?"
She was trying to keep focused, and as he was showing her how to apply her elbow to make someone who had her in a choke-hold from behind let go, Willow thought she felt a flickering presence approaching. "I think... company?"
"Hey Giles!" Buffy called. "So, is there anything in particular that I should watch for tonight? New demons, prophecies, wiggy portents?"
"Shouldn't you be studying your French, cow-toucher?" Willow asked, looking at her friend.
"I didn't mean to say that!" Buffy protested. "And what are you doing here anyhow?"
"Giles was trying to teach me how to keep someone from grabbing me and carrying me off somewhere for a horrible fate." Willow explained.
"It's not your job to fight the forces of evil and nastiness, it's mine. That's why I'm the Slayer, remember?" Buffy was frowning, and glaring at Giles. "You can't let her go off into danger like that. She could get hurt, or worse."
"What makes you think that I'd be safe even if I didn't patrol with you, Buffy?" Willow asked, wondering what had prompted this overprotective moment. Had Buffy even thought about the realities of life? "I'm a mutant, even if it's not really obvious from looking at me, and there are a lot of people who don't like mutants. I'm a female, and there are a lot of nasty people who attack women and girls. I don't have a car, and lots of pedestrians get attacked, even if they aren't with the Slayer at the time."
"But you'll be a lot safer if you don't go patrolling." Buffy tried to look authoritative by placing one hand on her hip, but instead looked more like she was about to burst into a cheer.
"Buffy, Willow does have a good point about dangers threatening even if she's not actively seeking them." Giles spoke softly, perhaps remembering the frog-like slime demon from the summer. "It can only be useful for her to know a few ways to try to break someone's grasp on her."
With a huff of air, Buffy glared right at Willow. "Promise me that you won't go patrolling alone, Willow. Promise."
Willow frowned, wondering just what made Buffy think that she could make a demand like that even while she knew that Sunnydale was very dangerous after dark. "Buffy, I promise not to go out alone seeking demons and vampires to fight. Is that good enough? I can't promise to always be safe, or to never be outside after dark."
"I suppose that it'll have to do." Buffy grumbled, and then turned towards Giles. "So, there's got to be something that I should take care to watch for."
"Try watching for French tests. Studying for it might help too." Willow muttered, now certain that she wouldn't get any more help from Giles about breaking holds. Not with Buffy there. "Just what has you so worried about me anyhow? I'm not helpless anymore."
"I don't want you to get hurt because of my destiny, or because somebody thought that they could hurt me by going after one of my friends. I don't want anyone around me to suffer because I got Chosen by the Powers That Ruin Lives."
"Buffy, it's nice that you don't want anything bad to happen to us, but you can't protect everybody from everything." Willow went to the other tables, and started to flip though her history book. She might as well try to study a bit, considering that it looked unlikely that she'd get anything else done now.
end part 4.
It would have been dramatic to say that her encounter with Buffy marked a downhill turn for the rest of the day, and that nothing went quite right after that. Dramatic, but inaccurate. The rest of the day went much as had become usual, with the students either ignoring or avoiding her, a pop quiz in Chemistry, and the assignment of an essay in English class. There was very little to mark today as any different.
Amy Madison came out of the building at the end of the day, looking as if her day had been a good deal more frustrating, and smiled weakly at Willow. "Mind if I walk to your house with you? I think I could use a place to hang out for a while that's not… well, somewhere else."
"I guess you could," Willow replied, smiling back. "It's not like too many people want to walk around with me."
"What about Xander and Buffy?" Amy asked, frowning as she tried to stuff a notebook into her already bulging backpack.
"Xander is headed for Tracie's place, so he can hang with his girlfriend. As for Buffy… she really needs to practice her French, but she's more likely to practice cheerleading." Willow shook her head, part of her annoyed at the way that they couldn't come right out and talk about Buffy being the Slayer, which Amy knew about after the mess with her mother, and partly still annoyed by the way that Buffy had talked about Willow patrolling earlier.
"Did you get a pop quiz in Chem today, or was it just something special that he cooked up for my class?" Amy asked, hefting the backpack off the ground. "And I think I did terrible on mine."
"But I bet you know everything that a person could possibly do with verbena and sandalwood." Willow countered, trying to cheer Amy up a little. "He gave the quiz in mine as well, and I'm pretty sure that some of the guys at the lunch table were complaining about one today, so yeah, all three classes."
"Yay for those of us who aren't budding chemists." Amy grumbled, and then looked over at Willow. "So, have you just been… has Carl been staying in your house? I can't imagine your parents would be thrilled about that, considering that they don't want you to have boys over, except Xander for some reason."
"My parents don't think of Xander as a boy, he's my friend with the dysfunctional family, and I think they've been trying to observe him for their studies." Willow sighed, and felt for Amy's back pack, hoping that she could use her magnetics to make it a little lighter for her friend. Pointing her thumb at it, she asked, "You don't have anything computer or electronic in there, do you?"
"No, why?" Amy blinked, and then smiled as it lifted upwards, no longer dragging as heavily. "Oh, that's great!"
"My parents know about Carl, and they've said that he can stay for now, but they're not terribly happy about it. But hey, he got kicked out of his home and doesn't have anybody else in the state that he could stay with…" Willow frowned as something green moved in the edge of her vision. Turning, she discovered that it was Carl, headed towards them with a big smile. "Hey there, we were just talking about you."
"Hopefully nothing bad." He faced them, and folded his hands under his chin, batting his eyelashes as he tried to look lost and pitiful. "Save me? Please?"
"Oh, he's doing the puppy-eyes!" Amy made a soft noise in the back of her throat. "Willow, he's doing the puppy eyes… What are you wanting us to save you from?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg." He sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. "They're going on about my responsibility to myself to get an education and the degrading quality of the schools today. It's horrible."
Amy giggled, and looped an arm over Carl's elbow. "I'll protect you from the big, scary psychologists."
"You know, I'm not sure they're completely wrong," Willow murmured. "You should make sure you learn things, and there are some problems with schools now. I don't like the standardized testing for everything, or the way classes are held back for the lowest level."
"What about the people at that lowest level?" Amy countered, leaning a little closer to Carl. "Shouldn't they get an education too?"
"Separate the classes. Have one chemistry class for the people who are taking it slowly, and one for the average, and one for those of us who are ready to mix some chemicals and do stuff. Under supervision, of course, so we don't blow something up by accident." Willow shrugged, thinking that the idea should be obvious. "They already do that for English, and for the math, why not for everything else?"
Amy shrugged, "Because our faculty keeps getting killed and eaten, so they can't organize things any better?"
"Good point, for Sunnydale at least," Willow admitted. "It's easy to say that something's not as good as it could be. It's a lot harder to fix it."
"Are there a lot of people having trouble with chemistry?" Carl asked.
"I am. We had a pop quiz today, and I'm sure I did terribly." Amy moaned. "Do you know anything about chemistry, Carl?"
"Yeah, I know some about chemistry," Carl grinned. "I've got an uncle who's a chemist and genius. He's got patents and published papers… the whole works. He used to write letters all the time."
"Really? A chemistry genius?" Amy asked doubtfully. "You can get patents for chemistry stuff?"
"I didn't ask exactly what the patents were for." Carl admitted with a shrug. "If he answered, it would probably be all technical. He's Hank McCoy, or Dr. Henry McCoy if you're being academic. To me, he was always just uncle Hank."
"What happened?" Amy asked. "You said 'was', did something bad happen to him?"
"Not that I know of. I turned green and fuzzy and my dad freaked out and then I didn't live there anymore to know if he still writes or not." Carl shook his head, and muttered, "Dad didn't take it well. Maybe it was just too close to when mom died."
"So, your uncle uses his chemistry genius for the forces of good?" Willow asked, hoping to get Carl's thoughts away from his dad freaking out.
"As opposed to for evil?" Carl snickered. "Yeah, I think so. He was doing work for some fancy company in New York, and apparently he was thinking about teaching part time at some private school called Xavier's. I don't know, he didn't talk about the school too much, but it sounded like it was hard to get into."
Willow stumbled when Carl said Xavier's. If his uncle taught at Xavier's, which was the place where the X-Men were based, then did that mean that his uncle was a mutant as well? She could email Kitty and ask if they had a new chemistry teacher, and if so, then maybe Carl could get back in touch with his uncle, since he seemed to have fond memories of him.
"You okay over there?" Amy asked, peeking around Carl. "You looked like you tripped on something."
"Yeah, yeah, just fine," Willow smiled. "Obviously, I did not get mutated super-reflexes and grace."
There was laughter, and then Amy wistfully commented, "It must be nice to have a relative trying to make things better. Your uncle's what, trying to research for a better tomorrow through chemistry?"
"Something like." Carl nodded, and then continued, "What, your parents aren't looking forward to the future?"
"My family has a gift for magic." Amy explained. "My mom was so not looking forward to the future that she tried to steal my body to relive her youth. Not a good example of what to do with power."
"Yikes." Carl shivered, looking a lot fluffier. "So, I've got my uncle the chemist, you've got your mom, the wicked witch of the west, and Willow… Willow has a pair of head-shrinkers for parents."
"And Magneto as a relative. My great grandfather's grandson, which makes him a cousin." Willow shook her head, and gave Amy's backpack a bit more lift. "The perfect example of how I don't want to end up – in prison. He's got some valid concerns, but… they've got him locked in a big plastic box."
"Okay, that's a good example of what not to do with your life." Amy shivered, and then frowned. "I didn't know that you were related to Magneto. Of course, people would probably be even more afraid than they already are."
"Yeah." Willow agreed sadly. "I don't want everybody to be afraid of me."
"They can be afraid of me." Vic's voice was the only warning they had before he dropped out of a tree, landing beside Willow. "I'm your bodyguard, I'm supposed to be scarier than you."
Amy's hand had gone towards her mouth, and she took a few breaths, just staring at Vic with wide eyes. Finally, she managed a shaky, "Mission accomplished."
Pointing at Carl, Vic sourly growled, "Not to him."
Carl shrugged, and muttered, "Humans scare me, considering the way I got tossed out of home and then ran out of the whole city for turning green."
"People can be scary," Willow agreed.
Nobody argued with that statement.
end part 5.
"So, if I asked you to save me from your parents and their psycho analysis, why are we heading back to your house?" Carl asked, glancing over Amy's head to look at Willow.
"Because instead of avoiding the school and leaving them the idea that you're avoiding an education, you're going to be helping my friend Amy study chemistry. The study group, in their opinion, is one of the best forms of peer interaction, because not only does it help form social bonds, it promotes education. That's a quote, by the way, from one of Mom's books." Willow smiled, feeling a little better now that she had a plan. "This will make them happy all around – we're trying to integrate you despite your obvious mutation and I'm not hiding from the real world behind my computer."
"That sounds so…" Amy wrinkled her nose, and sighed. "Cold."
"They try, but I don't think my parents really get things on the emotional level." Willow offered, and smiled weakly. "I suppose it could be worse, really."
Vic simply made an easy looking leap to the roof, lounging in the sun like a big kitty. Chemistry held little appeal to him, and he made her parents rather nervous. Willow wasn't surprised, and just focused on the door, swinging it open with her abilities.
"Cool. Must make it nicer when you've got your hands full." Amy chuckled, and sighed. "Let's not let your parents get started on my family problems, okay?"
"Good idea. None of us need to hear about the dangers of broken homes and the way they add further instability to the emotionally challenging teen years." Willow murmured as they entered the house.
"Willow, is that you?" Her mother's voice called. "Have you seen Carl, he left earlier…" Her mother came around a corner, several envelopes in her hand. "Oh, there you are. And this is your friend Amy, right?"
"Yes, this is Amy. We're going to have a study session for chemistry class." Willow explained, and then glanced at the envelopes. "There must have been a lot of mail today."
"Quite a lot, actually." She walked over, and handed Willow a stack almost as thick as a paperback novel. "Those are all for you, and several of them look to be college information packets."
"College packets?" Willow blinked, looking at the stack, which did contain several large envelopes with colorful pictures. "But I'm still only a junior. Isn't it a bit soon for colleges to be sending me stuff?"
"Not with your grades, dear." Sheila Rosenberg beamed, and then left the living room, muttering something about cod and amino acid complexes.
"Would they still want you if they knew that you're a mutant?" Carl asked, looking at the stack of envelopes curiously.
"I really wish I knew." She murmured. She started to look through them, not even recognizing most of the colleges. Some of them sounded small, or focused, and some of them were from very far away. There was a soothingly white envelope with gray lettering that proclaimed itself to be from the Frost Academy in Massachusetts, and several from some of the big name colleges. "Wow."
As she shuffled the envelopes, she discovered two letter-sized envelopes, both handwritten. One was from San Diego, which meant it was probably Chris or Lillian, and the other was from Erik. Right beneath that was something marked as coming from Xavier's School for the Gifted, hopefully the information that she had hoped would help her cousins. "Oh, goodie. A pair of letters amidst all the advertising."
"Okay, you can read your mail while Carl tries to explain chemistry and covalent bonds to me." Amy smiled, and they went to sit on the couch.
Willow tried to hide a smile as she glanced at them. She wasn't sure if Carl had noticed, but Amy was showing some definite interest, and Willow really didn't think it was just because of the chemistry class. She placed most of the college looking envelopes in a separate stack, and decided to start with the envelope from Xavier's. Inside was a cover letter perched over two paper clipped stacks of pages. Hmmm, she scanned over the cover letter. Hopes that she was doing well, heard that her cousin was recovering nicely, glad she's stayed in touch with Kitty and Jubilee. Aha, enclosed are copies of some information on both magnetics and on psionics, though he strongly suggested – and the words were underlined – that a psionicly gifted individual should seek personal training from a senior telepath rather than trying to fumble through on their own, but he hoped that this information might prove of some use for her friend. It was signed 'Sincerely, Charles Xavier.'
The letter from Chris was strange. Not the recent adventures of the gang, including the fact that Zack still had his mysterious admirer, a girl called Marie, but the fact that recently, a representative of a 'prestigious east coast academy' had approached them, claiming that both of the twins had been brought to the academy's attention as 'the type of students that we look for' – and something about the woman had felt weird to them. Apparently, Ms. Emma Frost had dressed in this expensive white suit, radiated professional impeccability, and had flown all the way to San Diego to extend the offer. From what Chris had been able to find, the place that Ms. Frost represented was the Frost Academy, and they were highly respected in the business world. But that didn't explain to either of them why they would garner the personal interest of someone who was either running or in the family of the person running the school.
Willow frowned, agreeing with her cousins. Why would a dancer, however talented, and someone who rebuilt motorcycles attract the personal interest of a powerful academy all the way across the country? She chewed at her lip, wondering about that, and then her eye fell back to the stack of college envelopes. Hadn't there been one from a Frost Academy? Was it the same Frost Academy – no, wouldn't it have to be?
Her hand was shaking as she lifted the envelope and tore it open. There were a few pages about the virtues and benefits of the Frost Academy, their impressive reputation and a listing of several of their more successful former students, and a listing of the sort of places that hired Frost graduates. Reading over the papers on the campus and history, Willow learned that it was actually a combination of a private and expensive boarding school and also provided a polished and useful secondary education, which was what most people would call college.
Okay, it was not unreasonable that maybe her grades, attendance and membership in a few after school clubs might have brought her to the attention of such a place. If they did wide scale searches for promising people to take a closer look at. But that didn't explain why they would be inviting her cousins. Chris and Lillian were great, and wonderful, but neither one had been particularly gifted academicly. It just didn't add up quite right.
She looked again at the pages that Charles Xavier had sent to her. She'd make a copy of the psionics stuff to keep, just in case it was ever needed, and it wouldn't hurt to learn a little more about that herself. If she had a car, she'd certainly want to go visit Chris and Lillian in San Diego, but… "I'm being silly." She muttered, resisting the urge to smack her head. "They've got transportation and licenses, one of them can come here and get the papers."
Smiling, Willow curled up in the chair to read the stack on magnetic abilities. She watched as Amy and Carl talked about chemistry, with Carl apparently oblivious to the chemistry between them. Oh yes, a little education could be a very good thing.
End part 6.
Eventually, Amy left the house, reluctantly heading home. Considering the hour, Willow felt just a little worried. "Do you think you'll be home by dark?"
"I don't have a curfew that early," Amy blinked, and glanced at Carl. "My dad's pretty cool about that sort of thing."
"Actually, I was more worried about something trying to eat you than your dad thinking you were out too late." Willow murmured.
"So, what do you suggest?" Amy gave a shiver, "I'd really rather not get eaten by some nasty thing."
Willow grinned. "I bet Vic would make sure you get home safely if you offer him a brownie."
"I heard that," Vic rumbled. After a pause, he added, "And you're right."
"Good for me that I have brownies then. Well, brownies at home." Amy smiled. "The ones with walnuts and chocolate chips."
Carl watched as Amy and Vic left, and there was a wistful look on his face. "She's just…"
"You like her." Willow finished for him. "I can tell. She's not freaking out because you're green, or because you're a year older, or because your dad kicked you out. I don't know if the two of you could make things work, but I don't see why you couldn't at least try."
"I don't think it would be that easy." Carl leaned against the wall, eyes downcast.
"I didn't say anything about easy," Willow retorted. "Lots of things in life are hard. But sometimes that's what makes them better. You go and try to figure out if it's worth taking a chance. I'm going to check my email, if I can keep from killing the computer."
Carl made a noise that could have meant almost anything and walked away. Considering him not only much less threatening than Vic but also much closer to a guest, her parents were letting him stay in the guest room down the hall. Maybe he would be thinking about the possibility of something with Amy. Maybe he would be thinking about his family, about his uncle the chemist. Or possibly he'd lay back and ponder life, the universe and everything.
Willow shook her head, deciding not to worry right now about what Carl would or wouldn't be doing. Instead, she turned on the computer and tried to think about what she wanted to say while it booted up.
In the end, part of her dilemma was solved by an email from Kitty.
To: RedRose99…
From: ProudCat…
Subject: Life and School
Hey Red!
Things have been about normal here, which isn't the same as 'normal' anywhere else. Ororo's got a few new plants in the greenhouse, and due to a few things that were completely not my fault the west wall of the greenhouse needed replaced from the ground up. We've had to do some serious work on the Boathouse (and why is it called that anyhow? It's not used to store boats.)
Oh, we got a new teacher at the school. His name's Dr. McCoy (no connection to Star Trek, though he's apparently watched enough to know) and he's a chemist. I've included a picture – he really fits in here.
Maybe you can manage to come out and visit us sometime. Logan promises to try to play nice with your pal Vic, though I think that there was some serious persuasion to get that promise out of him ; )
Anyhow, I gotta go now – there's this mess about an ice sculpture in the bathroom.
Kitty
Willow smiled as she read through the email, and then clicked on the attached picture. Her breath caught and she just opened and closer her mouth a few times while blinking. No wonder she'd said that Dr. McCoy would fit in perfectly at Xavier's.
The man in the picture was blue. Well, covered with blue fur. If he were green and maybe ten years younger and not wearing glasses, he'd be an almost perfect match for Carl. Wow. At least he wouldn't flip about Carl being a fuzzy mutant.
Grinning, Willow typed out a reply.
To: ProudCat…
From: RedRose99…
Re: Subject: Life and School
Hey Kitty
I don't know about a visit, things here never really seem to calm down for long. Besides, we wouldn't want to push too hard on Vic and Logan – have you tried bribing Logan with brownies? It works on Vic.
That new teacher of yours – if he's Hank McCoy – Dr. Henry McCoy to fussy colleagues – I've got his nephew in my guest room. My latest stray. Apparently, there were a few little things and his dad freaked and kicked him out of the house. I looked at the picture and the resemblance is amazing.
Fill me in later about the ice sculpture – and just how artistic is Bobby anyhow?
Willow
Sending off the email, Willow looked back at the pages on psionic and magnetic abilities. While she still wasn't certain if Chris or Lillian was the empath, she was positive that one of her cousins had to be, and that they couldn't have any training. If Professor Xavier had sent some information to help them, it really needed to get to them. On the other hand, she knew that emails could sometimes be read by other people, so she might as well be careful.
Letting out a slow breath of air, she started to type.
To: LiStenner…
From: RedRose99…
Subject: Long Time No See
Hey Cousin Lillian! (and probably Cris too, I bet she's leaning over your shoulder to read this)
I talked to someone who talked to someone, and I think I might have something neat to show you. It might be able to help with those recurring nightmares – Cousin Erik knows a friendly psychologist, someone who gets that people still have feelings. Oh, and speaking of head-shrinks, Mom says to pass on that 'no boy or youthful relationship is worth giving up on the rest of your life or not pursuing your dreams and ambitions.'
Anyhow, since it's been a while since we saw each other and I don't have a car, why don't you take a bit of time over a weekend and come up to Sunnydale and visit? Let me know when, and make sure you'll get here before dark (badly lit streets and muggers, you know : ( ) and I guess umm… I've got another stray in the guest room, his dad freaked out and kicked him out and he left the whole city where he used to be – Zack could give you a real good idea why. But anyhow Carl's in the guest room. Maybe you can pick a weekend that Mom and Dad will be elsewhere and I can just put you in their room instead of on the couches or my floor, and now I'm babbling in an email, urggh!
Willow
End part 7.