{Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is super short chapter, but it was clear to me after I wrote it that it wasn't going to fit well into the next chapter, which by the way, will be much longer than this one. Also, I've almost got the next chapter ready to go, so—no promises—but it should be up within a week. That's my goal anyway. I've heard if you write down your goals, you are more likely to complete them. I hope that's true.}
WANDA POV
When Wanda awoke in the middle of the night, her first thought was that Pietro was having a nightmare, but Pietro's nightmare's didn't cause the walls to shake. That was more likely to be something she would cause, but once she woke up a little more, and the walls were still shaking, it was clear that she wasn't the cause either. This was something else (someone else?).
Jumping out of bed, Wanda crossed the room and opened the bedroom door to find other sleepy-eyed kids looking out of their own rooms. She heard someone whisper "She's doing it again" just as the Professor rolled pass her room, calmly telling everyone to go back to bed.
Most of the kids complied right away, but Wanda wasn't about to blindly obey the command without first finding out what was going on, especially when Pietro emerged from his own room and zipped over to her side only stumbling slightly with sleepiness, but looking significantly groggy with his hair in disarray as he rubbed a hand across one eye.
"Wands, what's going on?" Pietro asked while trying and failing to stifle a yawn.
"I'm not sure." Wanda replied, her eyes tracked the Professor's progress down the hall, noting that he met a waiting Hank and conversed briefly with him, before entering Jean's room.
"It's Jean." Said Mila who had come up to stand beside the twins, along with Jubilee. "She gets nightmares and with her powers…I don't know; I guess they amplify them or something like that sometimes."
"Oh, that's…not fun." Replied Wanda unsure what an appropriate response might be. "Will she be okay?"
"Yea, it doesn't happen too often, but it happens enough to be…not unusual." Added Jubilee with a shrug. "I'd be more worried about the school than Jean. That girl is one tough cookie."
Before Wanda could ask either Mila or Jubilee anything else, Hank—who was still standing guard outside of Jean's room—sternly repeated while looking directly at their small group that they needed to go back to bed. So Jubilee and Mila retreated back to their own room, leaving Wanda and Pietro alone—save Hank—in the hallway.
"Well, good thing my nightmare's don't come to life like Jean's or nobody would ever get any sleep." Said Pietro grinning, clearly trying to make a joke but Wanda didn't find it very funny.
She just turned to face him with a look of concern "Are you okay, Pete? No nightmares tonight?"
"Yea, I'm good." Pietro answered immediately, before continuing when Wanda gave him a skeptical look. "Really I am! I was actually having a good dream about…Mom. I always seem to remember her better in my dreams, you know? But then I wake up and…" he shrugged frowning while made a 'poof' sign with both hands.
"But the night's still young, plenty of time left for nightmares!" Pietro added smiling again.
Wanda sighed. "We don't have to go back to bed, if you don't want to. I mean, we probably have to at least go back in one of our rooms or Hank might lose a gasket"—he was still eyeing them sternly from across the hall—"but we could just talk for a while or something if you want."
"That's okay. We should go back to sleep. We both have classes in the morning, and…maybe I'll dream about Mom again, or Aunt Marya." Said Pietro. This time his smile was smaller, but it was also more genuine.
"You sure?" asked Wanda.
"Yea, it's fine. And if I have a nightmare, I'm sure you'll know. You always do, even if I rather you didn't." Said Pietro again with a sad smile. "Good night—or morning—Wands."
Wanda smiled back at her brother. "Night, Pete. Love you."
"Love ya too, sis." Said Pietro before he went back into his room, closing the door behind him.
Wanda returned to her own room and crawled back into bed, but she didn't expect to get any more sleep the rest of the night. She couldn't help feeling that something was wrong. But everything was fine. More than fine.
Peter had introduced her to Alex, who seemed nice enough. And his younger brother wasn't terrible—despite attempting to be standoffish, Wanda could tell that Jean thought he was quite a bit better than 'not terrible'—once Hank had fixed him up some glasses that allowed him to see without blasting everyone in sight.
After Peter explained who Alex was (Wanda had hardly remembered him from their raid on the facility, she had had other things—more like just one person—on her mind that day, so he didn't really make much of an impression), Wanda had worried that his presence would only serve to exacerbate Peter's…issues.
After their initial reunion that Wanda hadn't witnessed, but before Peter had gone to see Alex again, Peter had paced—more like flitted from one side of the room to the other—the length of Wanda's bedroom. He was worried that even though Alex seemed happy to see him that once he'd had a chance to think about it, he'd be mad that Peter hadn't tried to contact him right away, hadn't even asked about him since they'd been back.
But—as Peter explained—that wasn't because he hadn't wanted to. He was just scared. Scared that if he asked the Professor about Alex (Wanda forgot that Peter still didn't know about Cerebro; it hadn't really come up in their day-to-day conversation) or asked him to look for him, there would be no one to find…because Alex was dead. So he had been working up to asking, he just hadn't yet.
But fortunately, Peter was worrying over nothing. After hanging out with Alex for hours, Peter had come back with a grin on his face. As much as Peter hadn't missed the facility, he had clearly missed his friend.
So Wanda didn't know why there was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know why it felt like they were about to plummet over the edge of a cliff.
Nothing was wrong. Everything was fine. Her brother was as fine as he could be, and she had more family members than she'd ever thought she would, so she was going to keep reminding her self of that. Although they still had problems, for the most part, things were good.
Everything was fine. Everything was fine. Everything was fine.
Wanda repeated that sentence over and over in her head until she did eventually fall asleep, but in the morning that sinking feeling was still there.
JEAN POV
Everything was not fine. Someone…or something was coming…Something might already be here.
{Author's Note: Oh, is that a plot I see on the horizon? I'm not cool enough to have tumblr, but drop me a comment if you feel so inclined.}