Of Hearth and Home

Chapter Fifteen: Can't Stop

Wanda swooned slightly.

"What is it?" Pietro asked, coming to support her from one side.

"I just … Don't feel right … again." Wanda replied weakly. "My head. It's starting to ring."

Pietro cast a glance back the way they had come and then forward towards the Brotherhood Boarding House although it was still out of sight.

"We're close to home." He decided. "All aboard." He said playfully, scooping her legs out from under her. "Hold on."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hurry, please, it's getting worse."

Toad jumped with an inner laugh before sighing out of concern. "Yeah Pietro, hurry it up."

Pietro shot Toad a sarcastic look and vanished in a blur.

"I hope she's okay." Blob rubbed the back of his head.

"She's tough!" Lance informed them with a scowl, pushing past them toward the boardinghouse. "She'll be fine."

Toad swallowed once and cast Fred a worried look before pushing on, step by step towards home.

Meanwhile, The other Wanda was gritting her teeth as she approached. Her mind was a torrent of fire and pain. Whatever her father's 'secret weapon' was – it was doing a job on her.

And then, just as she began to doubt her ability to press on … it began to abate.

I'm through the worst of it! She realized with a grin. Now, for the Brotherhood …

Wanda stepped out to find Lance strutting down the snow-lined streets of Bayville.

"Hey," Lance was saying "At least we're out of the house."

"Yeah." Toad agreed. "I just hope it's safe."

Blob nodded his agreement. "Mystique seemed awfully worried about us."

"Only 'cuz Magneto would kick her blue butt if anything happened to us. And she knows it!" Lance was puffing himself up.

"In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised …" He was smiling and talking, and when she stepped out from the alley, Lance only stared at her, blankly. "Wanda?" He said . "Where is …"

But it was too late. She had blasted him 'with both barrels' – as the expression goes.

Her Hex Field engulfed him and swept him along with a violent slam, right in to the side of a one-hour dry-cleaners.

"Ahhh, Toad?" Blob ventured in his confusion.

"Run" Todd whispered. "Run fast." And Todd leapt away.

Fred turned to run but was distracted by Todd's screaming, falling form as he flew by, wrapped in one of Wanda's Hex Fields. He slammed down on to the hood of a blue station wagon with multiple parking tickets on the windshield. Then he and it, exploded just a bit.

Blob didn't feel a thing, save the tingling in the back of his neck and a tiny trace of fear before he hit the snow-bank face first and buried his head like an ostrich.

Wanda surveyed the scene. Damn. She thought. Where is he?

And as if in answer to her question, she heard him coming. The telltale 'zip' that she had so long ago come to hate was making its way down the road.

It was on her before she could turn, but her power was ready and able.

With a thought and a minimal strain she caught him in mid run and lifted him slightly to keep his feet off the ground. The she began to squeeze the breath out of him.

"How nice to see you Pietro." She began as he choked and strained for breath. "You're looking well. Taller too. The last year has been kind to you." She smirked. "But now I've got you …"

Pietro was struggling for breath. She won't kill me … Will she? She won't kill me, will she? The thought ran through his head about eighty times per second until he passed out completely, listening to her say …

"And when you wake up? You'll be just as fatherless as I always was." She smiled demurely as his eyes rolled back in to his head and he went limp.

She hurled his unconscious form in to the same wall that had served to flatten Lance and then she turned her eyes down the road, knowing full well that she would have to hurry if she meant to intercept her father before he reached the Xavier estate. Because she knew that – while Xavier and Magneto were bitter enemies, they were also occasional allies; a remnant of their once heartfelt friendship.

"And today, you belong just to me … Daddy!" She hissed.

Then Wanda doubled her pace and headed off down the road.

Back at the Brotherhood house, Wanda sat quietly. She had been feeling ill again, but it had been subsiding ever since Pietro got her home. She had decided to lay down and rest, but when she did, she was horrified to discover that when she closed her eyes, she began immediately to dream.

In the dream she saw herself stepping out from an alley and attacking the Brotherhood. First Lance, then Todd and finally Fred. After a moment of shock, Pietro had appeared in the dream and she attacked him too, by choking the life out of him and casting him aside.

She was even more shocked as she lay there with her eyes closed to hear her own voice, speaking out loud to the empty room. "And when you wake up, you'll be as fatherless as I always was."

She recoiled at the bloodthirsty indulgence she heard in her voice.

And it was then that she knew – it wasn't a dream.

No one had told here where Magneto and Mystique were going. But she knew now anyway – it was the Xavier Estate. And she knew that something bad was about to happen – unless she made sure, herself, that it was averted.

She ran through the house and down the stairs, grabbing her coat as she dashed out the door. Briefly she cast her eyes around for Pietro, but then shook off the thought and began to run for Graymalkin Lane. If she could get there first, she could catch them as the approached the mansion, and hopefully discover that she was delusional and imagining the whole thing.

She made great time on her wild hunt through the streets and back alleys of Bayville. Soon she was making her way, on an intercept course, down Graymalkin, when she felt the headache begin to return.

Not now! She shuddered to herself. I need to save my father! She wailed mentally, tears streaming down her face and the pain obviously crippling her as she tried to focus on the road.

She gritted her teeth and bit down. Soon, every second became a lesson in agony. It was as though she was pushing herself further and further on to a sword blade with every step. Her eyes burned and watered and threatened to close against the light of day around her. But still she persisted, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

At the mansion, Derek stood with his hands clasped behind his back and stared blankly out the windows as he rocked back and forth from his heels to his toes.

To Storm, he looked like an expectant father or a man ready to 'tag in' on those ridiculous wrestling shows that Ray and Jamie love so much. She knew that neither of those things was exactly right, but she knew as well that an answer probably wasn't forthcoming.

Most all of the students were excited and chattering about the upcoming holiday break. Some were wrapping presents and some were trying to 'sneak a peak'.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Storm offered quietly from behind him.

Derek smiled and turned to face her. "The new mother nature." (1) He smiled and she blushed ever so slightly.

"What were you looking at with such a far away gaze?" She asked, peering out the window.

"The circle, the circle of life."(2) He nodded towards the windows.

Storm smiled softly. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked.

Derek nodded his agreement, never taking his eyes off her.

Storm felt herself flush, warmly, under his attention.

"You know …" She smiled. "About yesterday …" She cast a glance at him and he smiled, favoring the side of his face where she had struck him.

"Shhh…" He told her, placing a finger to his lips. "Forgiveness." (3) He cooed at her.

She smiled at him again, warmly, and without reservation as he had seen her do in private.

Derek's eyes shone with a contentment and light that Storm had not seen there before. It took her a moment to realize that he was mirroring her – showing her the emotions she was now ready to accept.

"You're …" She swallowed once. "You're due in the danger room again. Are .. Are you ready?"

"Come and see the show." (4) He said, smiling. "Guaranteed to blow your mind." (5)

Storm smiled. "Do all the things you do qualify as mind-blowing?" She asked coyly.

Playfully, he reached out and caressed her face with a gentle, teasing (mock) 'slap'.

Storm dropped her eyes. And then looked back up at him. "I'll come." She said at last. "I'd like to … I'd just like to." She decided, and he offered her his arm, before escorting her from the room.

He did cast one last glance back out the windows and sighed, silently, to himself.

Storm didn't notice.

1)The Guess Who – No Sugar Tonight

2)Elton John – The Circle of Life

3)Don Henley – Heart of the Matter

4)Emerson, Lake and palmer – Karn Evil #9, second impression

5)Queen – Killer Queen