Disclaimer: Don't own X-men

Summary: You just have to read to find out XP

A/N: This is where the 'R' rating comes in. Not telling you anymore than that, or I'll ruin the suspense ;) Be prepared....

~=dream sequence

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Wanda watched him go, feeling regret for making him leave. He was just trying to help, she knew that...but it was hard to sort out thoughts about someone when they were right next to you. She continued down the street, not paying much attention to exactly where she was going. She was watching her feet as she walked, trying to force herself to a decision. Did she love him back even remotely? While the answer should have been obvious, to her it was not. It was as blurred as her vision in the down pouring rain around her. That is when she realized that something wasn't right. She could still tell that Todd was close...but hostile presences were closer. She looked up and around in time to see a huge figure lung at her from the masking rain.

She felt herself fall to the ground, hitting the pavement hard under her attackers weight. Three other figures leered out of the darkness, and Wanda's eyes went wide. They were men...they were obviously drunk by the glazed over look in their eyes...and they were attacking her. She grimaced as a second man grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet. Rape. She started concentrating on a hex bolt, only to have a third mans hands encircle her skull and smash her forehead into a nearby wall. She felt the blood flowing down the front of her face, and her head felt like someone had just tried to crack it open with a dull axe. She opened her eyes only to meet a wall of red and even more pain. She tried to focus on a hex blast, but they weren't giving her time to think. She felt punches make contact with her rib cage, sides, face and stomach. Blindly she swung a free arm at the person still holding her skull in his hands, and she hit him, but barely. They ripped her trench coat off her, tossing it aside. She cringed, realizing that that had been the dumbest move she had made yet. The man threw her up against the wall, two others pinned her arms to the wall, rendering her immobile. There was a brief pause, giving her just enough time to send a weak hex bolt at the man advancing towards her. It knocked him off his feet and onto the ground, where he lay motionless and stunned for a moment. But the fourth, who had attacked her to begin with, kept coming at her. She closed her eyes, realizing that it was futile to try to see through the wall of blood anyway. She felt his hands come to rest over her breasts. She growled at him, feeling her face starting to swell and sting from the abuse. His fondled her cruelly, making her let out a soft whimper. She kicked out at him, hitting him in the shin, but it failed to phase him. The smell of alcohol was heavy on his breathe, and he was probably too drunk to feel much of anything...let alone register pain.

She felt him slip his hands up under her shirt, fumbling around with the hook to her bra. Wanda tried to kick him again, but this time he must have gotten annoyed with the behavior and squeezed her breasts hard. She yelped out in pain, recoiling and trying to escape. The men on either side of her were all sneering like maniacs, their gaze dripping of venom. She started to power up another hex, and received another punch to the face. Her mind was swimming frantically, trying to find a place of concentration, a sanctuary to save herself. She found none, the rough contact with the drunken bastard was too much to take. He had finally managed to unhook her bra, and his hands were outside her shirt now, up at the collar. In one motion, he ripped the fabric down the center, leaving her upper body exposed to him. He gripped her breasts in his hands again, squeezing them until he heard her whimper. The man stunned by the hex bolt had finally gotten back to his feet, his face burning with rage. He stormed over to her, grabbing the back of her jeans in his hands and ripping the fabric. Wanda kicked out at him, catching him in the crotch. He doubled over, falling again to the ground and cursing loudly. The man in front of her slammed her head back into the wall again and again until her head hung forward. His hands moved around behind her, finding the torn denim and continuing to rip it further, to the point where the jeans were nearly worthless to have. The smirk on his face was wide, as he slowly moved to do much the same to her panties...

Wanda's head was swimming, she could feel herself sobbing slightly. She was in pain, and humiliated. Her arms were raw from where the men on either side had been pinching her, purposefully making her remain conscious. Then there was a sudden lull in the abuse, and she took the opportunity to do the only thing that might save her. She screamed out for Todd, tears mingling with blood and rain on her face. Her scream suddenly became shrill and agony laiden as the man in front of her thrust into her, breaking her barrier. Even more hot tears poured down her face as he began thrusting in and out of her.

Walking around the street where Wanda had disappeared, Todd began looking for her. Something wasn't right, he could tell. That was when her heard her scream and became afraid. He had been damn scared in the past, but that was nothing compared to now. He felt a rage he didn't know he had build up inside him as he leapt as fast as he could in the direction of the scream. As he drew closer, he could hear low snickers and scuffling, punches being thrown and received. He slunk around in the shadows, looking down the alley to see a scene that he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. Wanda pinned to a wall, bleeding from every place possible. The blood was almost the only cover she had, her clothes had been basically shredded off her. He forced himself to look away from her and to those who had harmed her. His amber eyes were now not so dull, they were fierce and narrow as he looked to the main attacker as the bigger man continued to thrust in and out of her. Todd felt sick to his stomach. He slunk out of the shadows, spitting a mouthful of slime in the mans face. There was a round of gasps and angry roars of ferocity, the main attacker pulling out of Wanda, and the other men holding Wanda up to the wall dropped her arms, letting her body fall limply to the ground. Todd spit another mouthful of slime at one of the men that went to retrieve her and make a run for it. While two were fighting for air that was cut off by the quickly hardening slime, the other two backed up as Todd walked towards them. His hands were fisted, his eyes fixed on them .He walked past a dumpster, spotting a broken portion of a lead pipe and picked in up, wielding it was a weapon. One of the men ran, scrambling clumsily out of the alley. The other was quick to follow. The last two were still fighting to free their faces from the slime. Todd throw the lead pipe at the main attacker, the broken end sticking in the mans shoulder. There was a muffled yelp as the man struggled to his feet, finally removing the slime and charging at Todd. He was two times bigger than the youngest of the brotherhood, three times stronger, but Todd didn't flee from him. He was consumed by fear and hate, but he wouldn't let himself run. Not when Wanda so badly needed him. He leapt over the man, landing in the middle of the bigger mans back and pushing him to the ground as he used his body as a spring board. The last man had never freed the slime from his face, passed out from lack of air and slowly suffocating. The larger man stood up, giving Todd a bewildered look before turning and making a break for it. Todd was at Wanda's side in an instant. He didn't turn her over, he had already seen her nude state. He thought she had passed out, but to his surprise she shakily reached out her hand, grabbing his hand and let out a sob in her state of shock. Todd placed his free hand over her bloodied on, tears rimming his eyes.

"My God...Wanda."

He couldn't say any more than that, he couldn't find the voice too. She looked up at him, the gash on her forehead made him cringe. Her eyes were wet with tears and red from blood that had fallen into them. Todd slowly removed his hands from hers, and took off his outer shirt. He knew that it wouldn't fit her at all, but it would give her a sense of decency. He handed it to her, then turned his head to the side so she could slip it on. Most people had accused him of longing to see her like this, minus the blood, but they were all so wrong. He loved her for being her, nothing more was on his mind.

Wanda looked at the shirt that she already knew was too small, but took it anyway and slipped it over her head. She closed her eyes and winces as the fabric hugged her battered upper torso. She touched him softly on the shoulder to tell him that it was alright to turn back around. She had to admire him a little at the simple gesture of turning so that he wouldn't see her in her exposed state, he was one of the few that would probably ever do so. She pushed herself up to a sitting position...holding the sides of her aching head and closing her eyes. She heard Todd speak.

"We need to get going. I don't know how long I warded those bastard off for."

There was a long pause, and Wanda could hear him gulp down his nervousness.

"I'm sorry..."

He didn't finish, he couldn't. It was the one thing he had feared most for her...they taken the one thing sacred from her. Wanda gently shook her head, cringed and spoke instead.

"I know...."

She reassured him. The prospect of going back to the brotherhood wasn't one she liked. The other boys would think her weak, and she knew that Todd couldn't protect her against them. She felt childish to need to be saved by a boy younger than she was, but at the moment, he was her guardian angel. She doubted she would have come out of the alley alive had he gone back to the brotherhood. Todd got up, grabbing her trench coat and wrapping it around her to cover the rest of her exposed body. He gently slipped his hand under her knees and felt her tense up. He went to let go, but Wanda looked at him.

"Sorry...don't do that though."

"I can't carry you if I don't."

"I mean touch me without warning..."

She said, looking down at the ground. Todd mentally punched himself. Was he that thick headed? Obviously. He looked at her, his eyes saddening.

"You ok with me carryin' ya?"

Wanda didn't look back over at him. She was thinking. She doubted that she could make it back home on her own, but felt a small bit of humiliation at letting him carry her. Finally, she nodded her head softly.

"Yeah, go ahead Todd."

A weak smile crept over Todd's face. She used his real name... Slowly, he pulled an arm under her knees, and the other arm around her back, supporting her shoulders as best he could. She was slightly heavier than he was, and he stood still for a minute to make sure that he had adjusted to carrying her weight. When he was sure, he started walking towards the brotherhood house. The rain hadn't subsided much, but they had forgotten about the rain. Screw the rain. There were more important things, like getting Wanda cleaned up and avoiding the other boys at all costs. He knew what they would think if they saw him carrying Wanda back home, her jeans in shreds, wearing his shirt and covered in blood.

Luckily, the part of town they had been in wasn't far, and the boarding house was finally in sight. The lights were on downstairs, which meant that everyone was still up. Wanda looked up to her window.

"Pietro knows that I climb in my window a lot when I don't want to be seen...you can just jump me up there."

Todd nodded, putting more force in his jump to insure that they reached the roof. Wanda had left her window open, and he set her down inside her room. He went to leave, but Wanda grabbed the back of the white t-shirt he wore under the one she now wore.

"Don't go downstairs, climb over the roof."

"Why?"

Wanda pointed to the large blood spots on his white shirt from where he had been carrying her. Todd nodded, and jumped higher on the roof.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wanda walked over to her dresser, pulling out one of her more covering nightgowns and a pair of panties; and made her way carefully into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door, realizing that she was still crying softly. The trench coat she let slip to the floor. She carefully removed Todd's shirt, laying it off to the side as she trashed everything she had been wearing, they were all connected to the rape now. She climbed into the shower, washing away all the blood, trying to do the same with the flashes of the rape but to no avail. Quickly rising away the now pink soap, she climbed out of the shower and dried herself off, dressing the wounds on her head, arms and sides. Getting dressed, she returned to her room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Todd had made it across the roof, though with much difficulty, and sat in his room. He had already changed out of his soaking wet clothes, and into his pajama shorts and white t-shirt. He was watching his closed door, wanting to go check on Wanda. But he decided against it. If she could sleep at all after that, she needed to. Leaning back against the foot of his bed, he closed his eyes, getting lost in thought. Of all the people those fucking perverts could have decided to take advantage of, they just had to choose Wanda. She didn't deserve this, hadn't she been through enough shit in her life already? Without realizing it, he drifted off to fitful sleep.

It had been nearly four hours since Todd had brought her home, and Wanda lay awake on her bed. She didn't feel safe anywhere anymore. She was amazed by how empty and vulnerable she felt without Todd being around her. It was strange, actually feeling like she needed him to be there with her. But he had saved her back there, and he could have easily become a victim too. Those men...no, those bastards...had been two or three times his size and much stronger than the younger mutant. Without realizing it, she slipped into mandatory sleep.

~In her dreams, the scene remained the same. But when her attacker charged at Todd, Todd didn't jump in time. The man caught him, and no amount of slime could stop him. The man tossed Todd over to the other man who wasn't already pinning Wanda to the wall. The second man in the dream was vengeful against Wanda, seeing the fear in her eyes, he slammed Todd face first against the wall, pinning him with his arms. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn't. Her eyes were frozen open in her dream world. She watched as the man shredded Todd's jeans and boxers, and began thrusting into the younger mutant. She could hear the screams of agony coming from him and the blood that slowly covered both of them. It seemed like eternity before the man let Todd fall to the ground, all the while Wanda had been trying to wake up, but she was trapped in the dream. She watched Todd hit the ground, but he never moved. The blood pooled around him; the man snickered and kicked him over to the side. Todd still didn't move. His eyes were glazed over, never to see again. The the two men began stalking towards her, their hands covered in Todd's blood. Then she relived her own rape over and over, like it was taunting her...~

Todd's eyes shot wide open when he heard Wanda's scream echo through the hallways. He heard Pietro's voice shout back for her to shut up, followed by encouraging mumbles from Lance and Fred. But he knew what was going on. Getting up and running down the hall to her door, he paused just outside her doorway.

Wanda sat straight up in her bed, looking around wide eyed and panting heavily. She noticed slowly that she had broken out into a cold sweat, that and a fresh batch of tears rolled down her face. It had seemed so horribly real... She looked over to the doorway, and saw a shadowy figure standing there. She opened her mouth to scream, but saw the figure hold its hands out in front of it, making soft 'sshhhh' noises as it walked closer to her. She recognized the voice as Todd's.

"Shhhh...it's just me, yo. It's ok...your ok..."

He took another step closer to her bed. Wanda cradled her head in her hands, sobbing lightly.

"God...I had a dream. But it was so real..."

Todd didn't want to ask what it was about, he didn't want to know. Just remembering looking down into that alley to see her so inhumanly exposed like she wasn't a living person at all. Just a thing put on the earth for their pleasures, whether she felt that way or not. It made his blood boil to remember it. He sat on the end of her bed, looking at her as she dropped her hands back down.

"You gonna be ok now? You want me ta stay here?"

Wanda was silent for a long moment, nodding her head, but then realized that it was too dark to see anything. She had hoped he would stay, make her not feel so alone in this new atmosphere of fear and anxiety around her.

"If you don't care."

"Whether I cared or not, I'd stay here anyway sweetie."

He got off her bed as she laid back down, pulling the covers up and to rest on her throat. To feel completely covered, almost as if the covers where somehow force fields that kept her safe from harm. She felt Todd sit back at the end of her bed, and opened her eyes, looking down at his dark figure. He deserved the sleep too.

"You can lay down, you don't have to sit."

"I don't wanna bother ya..."

"You won't bother me."

Todd gave a soft defeated sigh, knowing that she wasn't going to give it up. Laying down on top of the covers, he watched her close her eyes again. She was so beautiful, even if she was battered and bruised, she was still the most beautiful creature in the world to him. Remembering what she had said about warning her before he touched her, he went to speak, but it seemed like she had read his mind.

"Just watch it..."

Todd nodded quietly.

"I would never hurt you, babe."

Carefully, so not to hurt her, he put his arm over the blankets that covered her waist and let his arm rest along side her spine, to make her feel like she was protected. He reached up with his other hand, running his fingers through her short raven hair. At first she had tensed at his touch, even though she knew it was coming. Then she slowly relaxed, and Todd listen to her breathing slow and knew that she was asleep again. He continued to run his hand through her hair, smiling at her. This...this was the Wanda he knew. Insecure and begging to know that she was loved. This part of her was so close to the way his life was, he wanted to protect her from everything that tried to harm her. But that's when the Scarlet Witch side of her usually kicked in, and she could take care of herself. But for now, she was Wanda. And he was sure that she at last knew that she was loved.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: *sniffle* such sweetness. I know I have Wanda a little OOC, but think about the situation. She's not gonna keep up her tough exterior through and after that. *sigh* too many lifetime tearjerkers for me...God I hate lifetime. But its just one of those addictive channels, ya know? Well, maybe not, but trust me, it is. This isn't the end of the story...not quite yet. Though unless I get some major plot ideas it will be an extremely short story. So, R&R or e-mail me!

~Dragonmistriss