Author's note**

            I have to apologize for my excessive use of the comma. I love the comma and consider it one of the finer forms of punctuation. I'll try and restrain myself. What else? Oh, I generally don't like to write scenes that involve more than a couple characters because it tends to get too busy. So if you have a favorite X-men that I haven't mentioned yet, fear not because I'll be throwing them all in.

            BOOM!

            The suddenly explosion went off just as Kitty was reaching for the handle to her door. It startled her enough to have her phasing through the wood and crashing into Bobby who happened to be sliding past on a patch of his own ice. They landed together in a heap of tangled limbs. Bobby decided that nothing that had ever happened to him in his life was nearly as freaky as watching Kitty pull her hand from chest. He looked down at his shirt front and shuddered.

            "That was really weird, Kitty," he stated, a little dazed. Rolling her eyes, Kitty stood up and rubbed one hand over her slightly tilted nose.

            "Like it's any fun for me." She held out a hand to him, one he gingerly accepted, and helped him up. "What was that noise anyway?" she asked, suddenly recalling what had sent her through her own door. Bobby shrugged.

            "Beats me, but it came from the front foyer. I felt the earthquake and figured Avalanche needed a little cool down," he replied, holding up his hands in the shape of two guns. Without warning he shot off two small ice balls and they crashed into the wall. Fancying himself a younger version of Dirty Harry, he blew invisible smoke away from the barrels of his fingers. Kitty frowned and turned in the direction of the foyer. Lance's behavior was a constant source of confusion for her, along with basic math and the alphabet. One minute he was acting all nice and sweet and the next he was trying to bring down buildings on everyone. Like, what was his problem anyway? The jerk. She started to turn back to Bobby to suggest they go see Lance about his cool down when the calm, slightly amused voice of the Professor stopped her.

            "Kitty, Bobby. I'm pleased to see that the two of you managed to stay out of trouble."

            With twin expressions of guilt plastered on their faces the two kids turned to see Professor Xavier wheeling down the hallway. And they both bristled when they saw Magneto only a few steps behind him. Neither said anything because there had not only been amusement in the Professor's voice, but a warning as well.

            "I'd like you two to proceed down to the hospital wing. We'll be having a meeting there. All of us," he clarified just as Kitty had begun to open her mouth. He continued, "I know it will be slightly crowded but it is important that everyone know exactly what is going on and the easier way to do that is to tell you all at the same time. Should you come across any of the others, please inform them of this."

            "Sure thing Professor," Kitty agreed while Bobby simply nodded his head. With that taken care of, the Professor continued towards the foyer hopefully with the intent to mind blast a few thick headed idiots. Magneto walked past the two teenagers without sparing either of them a glance. That gave them both the perfect opportunity to stick their tongues out at his retreating figure.

            "Man, I can't believe he's just waltzing through here like he hasn't tried to kill us all on a number of occasions," Bobby complained darkly as they started in the direction of the hospital wing. Kitty murmured her agreeance and after that they walked in silence. She got the feeling that a lot of things she would never have believed could happen were about to.

                                                            **************************

            Wanda sat in one of the many rooms of the mansion, looking out a window that was splattered with water drops. She didn't like storms though she was unable to say specifically why. Something about the rain tugged at her mind. It felt like there should be some memory, some bad memory concerning it but try as she might to uncover it she couldn't. There were no dark memories in her mind. Perhaps that's why she was suspicious. Everyone had some darkness in them. And she wanted hers. Being cheerful all the time sucked. How people could stand it was completely beyond her.

            Outside the storm was reckless and it matched her current mood. She felt restless even though she sat as still as a statue. There was something out there and it was both powerful and hungry. It pulled at her, knocking incessantly at the door to her desire. What are you? she thought to herself. And where can I find you?

            Her eyes were what scared Pietro the most. Even as she sat in darkness he could see them practically glowing from his position in the doorway. Their father may have thought that Mastermind had solved all her problems, but Pietro still held his doubts. No, those eyes did not look as if the mind lurking behind them was all together sane. She may have been happier, and may have no longer hated him or their father, but she certainly wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. Somewhere along the line, Wanda had lost a good deal of her marbles and he lived in terror of the day she came to realize that.

            "What do you want?" he heard her ask without turning around. She didn't need to. His reflection was in the window. Pietro gulped because he thought he heard a layer of anger in her voice. And he had. It was always there.

            "We'vebeencalledintoameeting," he answered in one explosive breath. If Wanda was annoyed by his nearly unintelligible reply, she didn't show it. Instead she turned her head slightly to the right and asked,

            "All of us?"

            He nodded quickly. "All of us," he confirmed.

            Very slowly Wanda rose to her feet, her long coat fluttering about her legs. She continued to stare out the window for a long moment and Pietro wasn't sure if she would come with him. Then she shifted and pinned him with that wild gaze of hers and made him very happy that his power allowed him to run like hell should he need to. And he was almost certain he was going to need to. But she surprised him, as unpredictable people often do.

            "Finally," she replied as if she wanted nothing more than to attend a meeting full of people she disliked. With a walk that was both graceful and a little scary, she glided past him into the hallway. Stunned, he could only stare. When he failed to move, she stopped and shot him a pointed look.

            "Lead the way, brother."