Through Hellfire and Back,

Part 10

Disclaimer: Well, it's been over a month, but I'm back! Hope I didn't leave anyone foaming at the mouth for too long; I was hoping to get this up last week, but a massive midterm haulted my progress. Well, that, and I figured all of you Lancitty fans wouldn't be too impressed if there wasn't a little L&K with this update! So, I took a little time to put out the extra chapter. X-men Evolution is the property of Marvel and Kids WB. All the characters in this story are the property of Marvel.

Enjoy!

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"STUPID PIECE OF @#$%^&& JUNK!!!!"

Wanda Maximoff tugged furiously at her school locker, wishing for all the world she could just unleash a little hallway chaos and release some pent-up frustrations on a few blue painted metallic doors. Of course, realistically, that little part of her mind which she usually ignored pointed out that her discovery as a mutant was one of the last things she currently wanted to invoke, particularly if she wanted to avoid getting locked up in the nut house for another ten years. Still, at least in the asylum she hadn't had locker jams.

"Need a hand?"

Wanda scowled as another goth girl sauntered up, calmly tinkered with the dial for one more tick, and allowed the door to slip right open.

"Hump! Luck." Wanda snapped.

"Yer in a great mood. Tough time with the Economics quiz?" Rogue leaned her back casually beside her friend.

Wanda pulled out a geometry book and slammed her locker in response.

"That bad huh?"

Wanda glared. "It was rigged." she muttered. "I don't know how Mrs. Cassiade did it, but I know she made it harder on purpose."

"Probably." Rogue walked beside her as the dynamic duo made their way to the food court. She smirked. "So, you gonna hex her or what?"

"Maybe." A thoughtful smile played on Wanda's lips. "Know anyplace where I could get her alone?"

"Ah do, but there's no way Professor X 'd let me tell yah."

"You always do what Xavier tells you?"

"Probably." Rogue shrugged and grinned. "Ah am an X-geek after all."

The duo let out an agreed chuckle. Ever since the alliance between the Brotherhood and the X-gee, er, X-men, Rogue and Wanda had gotten along famously. Perhaps it had to do with both having lived as the gal in the Brotherhood house. Perhaps it had to do with their shared gothism and similar interests. Perhaps it had to do with their shared experiences in seeing the darker side of being a mutant.

Or, most likely, it was because of all the girls parked in Bayville, both Wanda and Rogue were untouchable; both possessing that well known, and oh-so respected 'keep your hands off me or I'll smack your face in' attitude.

Either way, when the Rogue and the Scarlet Witch walked down the halls of Bayville High, be they freshmen or seniors, few students ever stood in their way.

"So," Wanda picked up a tray with spaghetti and a diet coke as Rogue grabbed her own, plopping down at a nearby table,"any word on Risty?"

Rogue sighed. "Nothin'. It's like she just up and disappeared. Ever since that whole 'mutants exist' thing, no one's heard a word from 'er. I dunno, maybe she kinda got freaked and put in a transfer right back to Manchester." A black gloved hand reached down and grabbed a french fry, before taking a straw-filled gulp of pepsi.

"Bummer." Wanda snorted in mock-sympathy. Truthfully she couldn't have cared less about the whereabouts of one Risty Wilde, but for Rogue's sake she had to pose the question.

Her friend was terribly sentimental about stupid stuff like that.

"Thanks, just the same." Another french fry, another sip of pepsi.

Another quick lapse of sanity.

"So what about you? Any news on yer brother?"

Rogue covered her mouth with a gloved hand the moment those words left her lips, mentally smacking herself for making such an error.

"My *brother*?" Wanda's eyes went red, heat clearly radiating as she spoke the words.

"Brother-HOOD. Ah meant, what about yer BrotherHOOD, ah, ya'know, the guys'n all?" Rogue winced as she started to babble in an attempted cover up. Oh, she was in hot water now; she just had to open her big mouth didn't she? Absently, she looked towards her friend, to see if the fire and brimstone was starting to light up in her eyes. Yep, right on schedule. Ohhhh, she was going to be banging her head against the wall for this mistake.

Rule 1# when dealing with Wanda Maximoff: Never EVER under any circumstance, save life or terrible agonizing death, mention any of her so-called blood relatives.

Rule 2#: If by some fit of temporary insanity or obvious slip of mind you should forget Rule 1#, hold on tight to any bolted pieces of metal and pray, pray, pray that you don't get blown away in the ensuing chaos.

Rogue's left hand reached down, putting a vice-grip on the edge of the table.

"My brother....." Wanda began, twisting her coke straw into an unidentifiable slip of plastic, "my brother is nothing but an overachieving, slimy, back stabbing, stuck-up piece of garbage who isn't fit to lick my boots....."

"Oh course." Rogue gulped.

"That he left me for that detestable monster of a sewer rat he calls a father only proves what a treacherous snake he really is." A few chairs behind them were starting to rattle now. The coke in Wanda's hand was starting to bubble into a boil, even as the students around the duo were beginning to back away five meters.

"Right."

"A Monster, whom, I might add, destroyed my life by locking me in an asylum since I was ten, ruining any hopes I'd ever had of a normal life."

"Gotcha."

"That I was the monster's daughter, or Petro's sister, their own flesh and blood never made any difference. Nor did it matter that my gifts became destructive because of the drugs _he_ gave me......"

The coke boiled more feverishly now. Rogue's eyes darted around for some sort of protection. The Witch was gonna blow!

"And the next time I see either of those disgusting traitors, they'll both be on their hands begging for mercy!!!"

*BOOM*

The chairs collapsed, and the soda sprayed all over Wanda's hand, bringing her back to reality. Absently, Rogue put down the binder she'd been using as cover, while the rest of the student body within a five-meter radius backed away another six.

"Ahem, right, sorry ah even mentioned it." Rogue picked up a tissue and started to wipe off her books, making the mental note in her brain- don't ever mention Quicksilver- five times larger then the current version.

"Uh, so........ how are the guys?" she mentioned hastily, trying desperately to steer the conversation to more friendly waters. Wanda's eyes lost their spark, as she started to fiddle with her now slightly damp pasta.

"Oh, the usual. The Blob's been eating away at our food supply like there's no tomorrow, and Frog-boy's still trying to 'impress' me with his obnoxious singing voice and *charming* manners....." Wanda made a face. "As if I could ever be even slightly interested in someone who baths once a month and eats house flies for breakfast!"

"Now you see why ah left." Rogue chuckled. "Todd may be a funny guy, but Prince Charming he ain't. An' speaking of Prince Charming, how goes Brotherhood roommate number three- Lance, or should I say, Romeo?"

"Romeo's been in a funk for weeks now, ever since his Juliet stopped returning his calls." Wanda frowned. "Tell me something Rogue, I only knew Kitty-kat for a little while before she got shipped off the the cat house, but is she always like that? Completely ignoring her own boyfriend, I mean?"

"Actually......" Rogue took a sip of her drink, a speck of sorrow marking her gray eyes, " Ah honestly don't know what's with Kitty these days." She paused, trying to evaluate the situation further. "I mean, she disappears from contact for a month, ah still don't know why- midterms? But then, when ah'm free and finally do get a'hold of her on the phone, she was a total ice queen." Rogue winced, recalling the brief conversation she'd had with her ex-roomate, only two days ago. After ignoring the silence which had crept between them for days, the gothic girl had, on a whim, called up one Kitty Pryde in Massachusetts, simply to say hi and inquire how things had been going.

It turned out to be a bad idea.

Kitty hadn't been in the mood for a chat; something Rogue could hardly believe. The former x-man had all but hissed on the phone, saying that she was "very busy" and that perhaps if Rogue wanted company she should track down that silly Cajin, rather then waste her "precious time". Overall, the entire conversation left a sour taste in loner's mouth; she had been in a foul mood for the rest of the night.

Now however, she just wished she knew what had gone wrong.......

"Some friend." Wanda snorted in disgust. "Maybe she's starting to hang around with a new crowd. They say there's a lot of prep snobs at that place. Personally, I wouldn't go to school there if you dragged me."

"Wanda, it's a miracle we don't have to drag you *here*." Rogue smirked, before her face returned to it's previous solum state. The Scarlet Witch could be right, perhaps Kitty was simply hanging out with a new crowd. Maybe she didn't want to rock the boat, didn't want to hang on to the past.

Maybe she didn't want to remember being an X-man anymore.........