The door slammed in my face. I blinked. How could he refuse to help? All of our lives hung in the balance. Without help, there was no hope. We would not stand by and watch, but stride into battle seeing nothing but death and destruction.
I strode down the drive way and crossed the street. I started to shake. We were done for. The realization hit me like Apocalypse's power. Nothing could save us now. I screamed in anger and agony, my optimistic ways forgotten. This was the day. The day we couldn't save our people, which we had worked so hard to protect.
I cursed everyone. I blamed everyone. I was the only one who wouldn't use their power for bad, but I was the one who suffered. It all came back to me. It always does.
I heard a rattling behind me. I turned around. Through the door came the scarlet witch. She strode forward, toward me, without a backward glance at the Brotherhood. Their faces stared bewildered through the filthy windows.
She stopped so that we were looking at each other eye to eye.
"I want you to understand", she started slowly, "That I'm not doing this for you. I need to fight my father." She inhaled deeply and waited to see what my answer would be.
I nodded, offering a gloomy smile. "We aren't doing this for us either. We're doing this for them", I spread my arms and gestured toward the neighboring houses. "Their survival depends on us, there's nothing they can do now. Nothing."
I was shocked at myself. Nothing held an air of finality that I didn't mean to put there. It settled itself there, pleased with the destruction of the human race.
Wanda nodded sadly. "It's up to us", she agreed, walking ahead of me. "Everything".
I started a jog toward the mansion, trying to fill my head with thoughts of happier times. But the sound of our footsteps packed into my ears. Reminding me of an already defeated army, Marching toward our dooms. Unaware, and unready.