So much for a fast update. Yeesh...sorry bout that. Well here's part two... the final chapter. There's an epilogue in the works as well. Thank you soooooooooooooo much to all that reviewed. I'm going to have to ask that you forgive me for not doing individual responses this time but I promise I will next time.
Moving on Part II
Lance drew a sharp breath and volleyed a series of punches and kicks at the punching bad suspended in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he half growled as he closed his eyes and swung blindly in the abandoned weight room.
"Your form is awful."
Lance froze and spun around to see Logan preparing to load more weights onto one of the many bars in the room.
"I wasn't exactly going for good form," Lance said angrily.
Logan stopped and looked over at the brunette. Placing the weight back on the floor, he took a seat on the bench.
"Then what were you going for exactly?"
Lance rolled his eyes and shrugged. He had the feeling Logan already knew what his goal was: release of pent up...everything.
"I kinda have a temper problem sometimes," Lance sighed.
Logan grunted in response. Lance blew his sweaty bangs out of his face and headed for the door. Having someone witness his version of controlled temper tantrums was not something he was up for at the moment.
"Lance..." Lance paused just before the doorway and turned slightly, "Come 'ere."
Lance looked back at Logan quizzically, then came over and sat on an adjacent bench. Despite his overwhelming desire to go off and find something to kick, refusing wolverine's request was probably not such a good idea.
"What?" he asked blankly.
Logan raised his eyebrows slightly and tilted his head. "I say we can both cut the polite shit and you can tell me what's up... or you can leave. It's up to you."
Lance sat, stunned, and stared at Logan in surprise. 'Well this is... different. I didn't think Mr. Adamantium here did the whole talking thing much' Lance dropped his head slightly and smirked. "You're really terrible at the whole sympathetic thing you know that?"
Logan simply stared at Lance. "Ya I'm aware of that," he said nonchalantly, "So you gonna tell me what's up or did I make a moron out of myself for nothing?"
Lance didn't even bother to weigh his options. He was too tired of fearing what other people might think of him. Logan could think he was a whiney brat for all he cared at the moment. He was the one that wanted to know what was up, and Lance was sure as hell gonna tell him.
"I'm pissed," he stated flatly, "Pissed that the world is the way it is about mutants, and that I've gotta grow up the way I have, and that I care so damn much about other people, and damnit, I'm pissed that my head hurts! Magneto just *had* to go all postal and make me use my powers! So now I'm stuck with dealing with a splitting pain every time I make the earth move. Damn, I used to love that power, now I could care less."
Lance stopped his rant and sucked air through his nostrils in an attempt to cool down. Logan waited in silence for Lance to get himself together again.
"How do you know it's permanent?" he asked at last.
"Hank told me," Lance said bitterly, but his voice was much sadder now that he had calmed down some, "It's not nearly as bad as before, but I'm still stuck with it. The rational part of me is trying to remember that at least the pain isn't constant, and it's manageable, but right now I really don't give a shit. To hell with rationality anyway. Nothing in my life ever makes sense, and in the rare moments that it does, mutant recruiters come inject me with who knows what in the middle of the night and abduct me from my house!"
Lance looked up and fought to keep the scowl on his face. Logan was looking at him the same as he always did, and Lance was glad for that. The last thing he wanted was to be pitied. He began to tap his foot in the awkward silence.
Logan wasn't exactly the most talkative of people, but he'd surprised Lance more than once with what he'd had to say. When Logan finally spoke up, Lance found that the wolverine was about to surprise him yet again.
"Look Lance, you're at a real funny age."
Lance rose his eyebrows and snorted. "Uh, I'm pretty sure I'm past that speech Logan."
Logan rolled his eyes, a rather odd expression for him, and continued. "That wasn't the age I was referring to. The point is you aren't so special in this case. Everybody has to come to the point where they decide who they're gonna be. Happens to every eighteen year old as far as I'm concerned. You just gotta deal with it."
"Again, your sympathy amazes me," Lance said dryly, "But damn Logan, most eighteen year olds don't have to look after a sixteen and seventeen year old. How am I supposed to plan a future around that huh?"
"You don't have to," Logan said simply, "Todd and Pietro are fine."
Lance shook his head and smirked, "Yeah, and Kurt is bald," he muttered sarcastically.
"Actually, Kurt is bald around the wrists."
It was true, Kurt's wrists were completely bare of any fur, courtesy of Magneto who had caused Kurt's bracelets to spin at mach ten around his wrists. The result was an impressive friction burn. The other students all had dark bruises along their wrists and ankles, but no one dared complain after seeing Kurt.
"Shut up smart ass. You know what I meant. Pietro and Todd are a wreck. Todd hates change. He's gonna have a hard time if I move out, and *someone* has to keep Pietro under control."
Logan leaned forward and looked directly at Lance. "They are not your responsibility Lance. Todd will adjust fine, and I'm pretty certain I can handle Pietro."
"You've never seen him when he's had caffeine," Lance said slowly. There such a seriousness in his voice that Logan refrained from comment. "I'm serious, *strange* things happen to that boy after an eight ounce bottle of coke. I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you, even though the girls can out bench him. And as for Todd, he doesn't adjust well."
"Is that so?" Logan stood up and pulled Lance up as well by the elbow. Lance followed Logan to the common room until the older man put his arm out to stop him and gestured to be quiet.
Lance looked up at Logan in confusion then peered around the door. Todd was on the couch with Rahne, Sam, and Ray, yelling gamecube instructions at Sam. Lance watched as Todd laughed and argued with Ray over nothing. After about five minutes, Lance realized what Logan had brought him up here to see. It was utterly simple, but the effect was huge. Despite the fact that his arm was stuck in a sling, Todd was having fun. He was just being himself, goofing off and having a good time, even going so far as to occasionally flirt with Rahne, which he meant nothing by. Lance watched all this in awe.
"Looks like he's adjusting just fine if you ask me," Logan said quietly. "And Pietro isn't too far behind him."
Lance sighed and drew away from the door. He suddenly felt like a fool, but an incredibly relieved fool none the less.
"Lance, *you* don't need to worry about them anymore. It's over, you don't have to be their dad anymore, just their friend."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Mr LeBeau...right?"
Gambit flicked his eyes up from his can of soda and snorted. "For crying out loud I'm not *that* much older than you. Remy is fine, besides, the uh... 'accent' you put on LeBeau is not something I want to hear again."
Ray nodded and linked his thumbs over his pockets and mumbled an apology of some kind. "Uh, so... can I ask you something?" he asked timidly.
Gambit raised an eyebrow and gave Ray an odd look. "Only if you stop acting so nervous about it. I'm not going to blow you up or something kid.
Ray's eyes widened. "Can you *do* that?"
Gambit arched his eyebrow again and remained silent. He didn't really blame the kids for being so nervous around him, but it still annoyed him slightly. If he had any intentions of harming anyone, he would have done it by now. In truth, he wished some of them *would* come near him. Logan and Ororo, he had decided, were about as exciting to talk to as a brick wall. In short: Remy had been bored out of his mind.
"Well anyway," Ray continued, "Some of us...we kinda wanna know what the heck is up with that Wanda chick."
Remy smirked. "And so you've been elected to come ask the scary ex-lackey about her because you know the professor won't tell you what you want to know."
Ray's ears went slightly pink as he shook his head. "No I...we...well yeah, ok."
Remy laughed and gestured for Ray to take a seat. "Are your friends just outside the door?"
Ray's ears went a slightly darker shade of red as he nodded. Remy let out a low laugh again as Bobby, Amara, and Rahne filed into the kitchen sheepishly.
"There isn't much to tell. Magneto brainwashed her basically, with the help of Mastermind."
"Uh...who?" Amara asked.
"A mutant. He altered her mind, and not for the first time. She's just very confused because somehow she managed to break free of whatever cap he put on her memories."
Rahne sneered and shook her head. "That's sick...screwing up your own daughters mind."
"What?" Ray gasped.
"You didn't know?"
Ray shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense though because Wanda and Pietro are...heeeey! Wait a minute!"
"Jeez man, where the heck have you been?" Bobby said, rolling his eyes.
"Shut up," Ray said, nudging Bobby in the ribs slightly. "Man, that is one screwed up family. No wonder Pietro is so damn moody."
"Mmm." Remy agreed, "I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you kept that to yourself though."
"Yeah really. Jeez Ray," Amara scolded. Ray shrugged in response. "So where's this Mastermind guy now? What if Magneto tries to brainwash us all?"
Remy shook his head in partial amusement. "Mastermind couldn't brainwash *all* of you chere, so don't get all worked up over it. Besides, he's off in Europe somewhere I think. My guess would be in an attempt to manipulate a few political people over there, who knows."
"Well what about that other guy? The big metal one?" Rahne asked. "Seems to me *none* of you want to be working for Magneto."
Gambit pursed his lips and tilted his head. "Mmm. Colossus wouldn't even have been on Magneto's side in the first place. His family is in some kind of trouble, or danger, and Magneto's the one in control of the whole ordeal. I don't have a clue what the ordeal even is so don't bother to ask. Basically if Colossus doesn't do everything metal head says, his family is history. So he can't leave."
The four students blinked.
"That sucks," Bobby said, awkwardly filling the silence.
"Yes well, that's Magneto for you. He's got some decent ideas, then he's got his loony ones. But enough of that, I have a question for you four. How did you get away from Toxin?"
The four young mutant's eyes lit up at the reminder of their victory.
"It was *so* cool!" Amara stated. "We totally took her out! Well, I mean, it wasn't cool till *after.* At the time it royally sucked."
"Yeah, the X-Men had it easy. All they had to do was have Rogue get close enough to touch that other guy. *We* had to actually fight," Ray whined.
Remy grinned. This was far more entertaining than information on plants from Ororo. "How about a play by play?"
The four teens launched into explanation all at once. They'd been dying for a chance to brag about they had brought Toxin down, but everyone else in the mansion had been so sullen lately. The new recruits had a routine: when bad things happened, they would all just get over it as quickly as possible. Yes, they were badly shaken, but being slightly younger than most of the other X-Men, they could still retreat to the untouchable world that kids entered in and out of occasionally. They were still young enough to block out the rest of the world and live in their personal realms.
Though it would seem naive to some, the younger mutants were very aware that it wouldn't last forever. Rahne in particular was now more keenly aware of it then ever. Ever since they had spent the day in the mall with Todd, she had seen what growing up too fast could do to people, and made it her personal mission to help Todd out somehow. She wasn't sure how the older X-Men handled taking on the weight of the world.
"So anyway, that's when the instructors found us..."
"And Hank yanked my arm back into place," Rahne finished bitterly.
"Ick. I *still* don't think bones should ever make that kind of noise," Amara said.
"They shouldn't," Rahne grumbled. "I think maybe..." Rahne trailed off as Roberto and Jubilee entered the kitchen.
The group of chattering teens instantly became silent. Gambit glanced at Roberto and Jubes, who were now searching for something to drink, and then back at the remaining teens. He frowned slightly.
"Afternoon," he said to Roberto and Jubes.
The pair looked up, both with surprised looks, and smiled at Remy before noticing the glares that the other kids were sending them.
Remy once again noticed the obvious tension and rolled his eyes. "You know, funny thing about Magneto is, he's so damn persuasive, *anyone* could be convinced to take his side."
The teens all stared at him with various glares and scowls.
"Yeah, but you would *think* that some people would know the difference between a strong leader and a complete psycho!" Bobby seethed.
Roberto snapped at that point. He'd had enough of the glares and awkward silences. They were either going to openly hate one another or get over the whole thing. Either way, the stupid silences had to stop.
"That's it! I've had it! We screwed up ok? We did dumb stuff! Like none of you've done anything stupid before!"
"Not something stupid enough to betray my friends over!" Rahne screamed.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Gambit interrupted. He had no desire to witness a screaming contest. "How bout we figure out just why exactly your so pissed off at each other?"
No one moved.
"Well then, shall we see if I *can* in fact blow someone up?"
Roberto and Jubilee immediately took a seat.
"You said the guy actually had some good ideas Roberto!" Ray blurted out. "I mean come on!"
Gambit sniffed slightly in an attempt to cover his amusement. "He *does* have some decent ideas. Unless of course you think peace for all mutant kind is a bad thing."
"Huh?"
Gambit sighed. "Magneto is manipulative, he specializes in telling you how great things will be when he succeeds in whatever he's working on at the time. He wants good for mutant kind in all honesty, he just goes about it the wrong way."
"Yeah, If I had known he was willing to kill people who were against him, I would never have said I'd join him," Jubilee said softly, "I was scared as hell, and here was this guy telling me how things will be so wonderful if I say yes to him. What was I supposed to do?"
The teens fell silent.
"If I leave you in here, can I trust that you won't try to kill each other?" Remy asked.
The group of mutants nodded reluctantly. They had to argue about this sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"You know, pacing around your own room isn't going to do much good. You kinda need to *talk* to her."
Pietro scowled at Lance and continued to walk from one side of the room to the other. "Well thank you *so* much for your lovely insight. I was *completely* unaware of that."
Lance rolled his eyes and tried to concentrate on reading some of the information Xavier had given him on the U.M.P.A. After his chat with Logan, Lance figured he may as well help himself out as far as figuring out a future went. Besides, he needed something to take his mind off of the events of a few days ago. He read about three lines when Pietro began to alternate from a casual pacing to a mutated one.
"Ok, that's it," Lance sighed, shoving the stack of papers onto his bedside table.
He pulled himself off the bed and caught Pietro by the arm.
"Hey, what are you..."
"*I'm* not doing anything. *You,* on the other hand, are going to talk to your sister right now before you drive me completely insane," Lance said calmly, pulling Pietro toward the door.
Pietro struggled in Lance's grip and dug his heels into the carpet. "Aww come on Lance! Not right now!"
Lance stopped and faced Pietro. The younger boy suddenly looked quite terrified. Sighing, Lance released Pietro's arm.
"You gotta do it Tro. The sooner the better."
"Yeah but...but I, what if..."
"What if nothing! What *if* Magneto takes over the world tomorrow? What *if* the world turns itself upside down? What *if* Todd smells decent one of these day? The point is we ain't ever gonna know till it happens!"
Pietro bit his lip and looked at his feet. "Yeah I know," he said quietly, "But I'm not so sure I want to know. If I loose her too Lance, I'm not so sure what I'll do. I don't think I would forgive me if I was her ya know?"
Lance's expression softened and he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You gotta look at it from both ways Tro. *You're* all she has, know what I mean? It's not like she doesn't loose anything if she tosses you aside. Go talk to her."
Pietro looked up and sighed. Lance gently directed him toward the door and Pietro reluctantly headed off to find Wanda.
He found her sitting by herself with the TV on. She was channel surfing, but Pietro could tell she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what was flickering across the screen. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. Wanda instantly shut the TV off and spun around on the couch.
"It's-just-me!" Pietro said quickly, putting his hands up. "Can we...can we talk?"
Wanda looked around uncomfortably and then nodded, moving over slightly to make room for her brother. They both sat in silence while Pietro wracked his brain for something to say.
"Wanda...I...I'm sorry. I don't know how much you remember but I'd bet anything that it's not good."
Wanda turned and looked at Pietro, sizing him up. Pietro winced and waited for her to explode at him.
"I remember some good things," she said slowly.
"You do?" Pietro asked, slightly shocked that she wasn't screaming at him, "Like what?"
"Just...stupid stuff. Like us when we were little. It all kinda goes downhill from there though," she paused and lowered her eyes. "I remember you abandoning me," she said softly.
Pietro drew a sharp breath and closed his eyes. "Wanda I never wanted to. I couldn't stop him. It was either that place or the Maximoff's! Do you remember them at all Wanda? What they did to you– to us?"
Wanda's eyes flashed. "Yes! But anything would have been better than that cell!" she roared, the lights flickering as she did. "At least with the Maximoff's I wasn't alone! Do you have any idea it's like being so alone!?"
"Yeah! I do!" he shouted back, "Damnit Wanda! I lost you too ya know! And he abandoned me too, just in different ways," Pietro clenched his eyes shut and his voice softened. "If I had known it was going to be that bad for you, I swear I would have gone after you somehow. I thought- I thought that it would be better for you there, I swear."
Wanda stared at her brother with a mixture of indecision on her face. Pietro..." she whispered.
Pietro tried to hide his shock as he took in his sister. It had been years since he had seen her as anything but an angry and bitter person. Now, she was close to tears. Pietro knew better than to think she looked weak, his sister was anything but frail, but she looked so utterly lost that she seemed more or less helpless despite her rock solid posture and body language.
"I want to trust you!" she said loudly, tears breaking free from her bloodshot eyes, "There's just so much in my head! I can't figure it all out, I just can't!" She bent her head down and clasped her hands over her hair, sobbing quietly. "You only tried to talk to me once after Mystique brought me back! Just once! Why? Why Pietro?"
Pietro swallowed hard, stunned at Wanda's behavior. He felt the all too familiar prick of tears in his own eyes but brushed them away quickly.
"I-was-scared-ok! You wanted to *kill* me when you first got there. I was scared that you wouldn't want to be my sister anymore, or something stupid. I don't know. Wanda I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Pietro drew his knees up to the couch and wrapped his arms around himself. After Magneto had wiped her memories the first time, Pietro had never made an attempt to get too near his sister. He couldn't handle seeing the fake Wanda. He felt guilty, ashamed, and scared all at once about the whole thing. He didn't want her to know that he had hurt her.
"Of course I wanted to be your sister! Hell, that's *all* I really wanted. Why couldn't you see that?" Wanda asked through her tears.
Pietro hugged himself tighter and willed his own tears to stay back. "Because I was so awful to you. I had no right trying to get close to you again. I knew he brainwashed you that first time, and I didn't do a damn thing about it! Not a damn thing! Wanda, you should hate me!"
"No. I can't hate you. I just can't."
The twins sat in silence, Wanda with her head down, tears dripping from her lashes and onto the floor, and Pietro with the salty liquid forming in the corners of his eyes but not making their way down his cheeks. He wanted to scream, wanted to tell her again and again that he never wanted to hurt her. He was just too scared to get too attached again, so he had watched her suffer in silence at the boarding house. He wished more than anything he hadn't been so stupid then.
"Wanda, I'm so sorry."
Wanda looked up and brushed the tears off of her eyelashes. She tilted her head slowly to one side, sniffling slightly.
Staring him hard in the face, she asked, "Do you mean that. Do you *really* mean that?"
Pietro nodded. He was slightly surprised by the strong tone in her voice. She was asking him the question seriously, rather than just searching for reassurance.
"I want to help you...please."
Wanda took a slow, shuddery breath and closed her eyes. "Ok."
Pietro wasn't positive what that meant at the moment, but he'd take it. Cautiously, he wrapped his arm around her, waiting to see her reaction. She looked up at him briefly, then latched her arms around him and collapsed into sobs.
"Shh," Pietro soothed, "It's ok sis. He can't hurt us anymore. I won't let him ever again."
Wanda buried her face deeper into Pietro's shoulder and continued to cry. All that mattered to her at this point was that she could trust her brother again. She wasn't sure why exactly, but he was really the only person she had now; she wasn't about to let that go.
Pietro rested his head on Wanda's hair as his own tears slipped down his face. He knew that he was partly to blame for Wanda's confusion, but he had to help her, and he would, with time.
After a while, the twins both calmed down slightly and pulled apart. Wanda made a vain attempt to compose herself again and bit her lip.
"Wanda listen to me," Pietro said softly, "I'm..." Pietro cringed to himself. He hated admitting to things like this. It was all so much emotion and so much drama and he hated the weakness, but he had to do it. "I'm-scared-to-let-you-get-close-to-me-again."
Wanda took a moment to process what he said and gave him a quizzical look.
Pietro sighed and ran a hand over his hair nervously. "Anything that meant something to me...Magneto took. It's his way of controlling me, no matter how many times he tries to convince himself he's only trying to help me. I know that now, and I won't let him do it anymore. But...but I'm still afraid. I shut people out."
"I'm surprised you can admit that," Wanda said honestly.
Pietro smirked. "I've had some counseling."
Wanda smiled a little at that and moved closer to Pietro. "I want to be you sister again Pietro. You help me, and I'll help you, ok? Seems like we both have some shit to get through."
Pietro smiled faintly. "Yeah, but I think it just got a whole lot easier."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Todd slouched down in his chair in front of the professor with a sigh. They had reached the conclusion of yet another session. The professor seemed mildly surprised that being tortured hadn't really affected Todd too much. Todd had pretty much shrugged the whole thing off.
"I've seen a lot worse yo. Sure it was scary but I used to live with Fred, remember?"
The professor had nodded and made a mental note that Todd had indeed improved in the seemingly short two months that he had been here. He shouldn't really have been too surprised with his reaction to Magneto. Kurt had dealt with things in pretty much the same way; he shrugged it off with a "Zat's mutant life for you," and moved on.
"One more thing before you go Todd," the professor said.
Todd waited expectantly. He really wanted to get down to the kitchen where the others were making ice cream floats and popcorn for the movie they had rented. Todd was hoping for an action film, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be that lucky, as Jean and Scott were the ones who had picked it out.
"About Fred," the professor began, "any thoughts on what he did?"
Todd sighed. He knew this would come up eventually. "'Course I've got thoughts on it yo. Me, Lance, and Pietro already talked about it."
A short silence followed. "I suppose you want me to tell you what we talked about?" Todd said, rolling his eyes.
"Well that's the general idea," the Xavier said with a smile.
"It's like this proff, he did way too much damage to just let it all go after one act of...of whatever it is you call that. Pietro, he thinks Fred's a complete idiot for not coming back with us. Not that we'd really want him to, but still. Pietro's real good at holding grudges ya know? Lance on the other hand is so sick of hating people that he just doesn't care anymore that Fred's an ass hole. He said something about not ever having to deal with him again so it doesn't make a difference either way to him."
"Mmm. And you?"
Todd fidgeted slightly and looked around the room. "Me? I...I don't really know. I think Lance is wrong; we'll see Fred again. The way I see it, we're still enemies, just for different reasons. Before, it was because he was a jerk and beat up on me all the time. Now, it's 'cuz he's on the opposite side, ya know? I kinda feel bad for him actually. I mean, I understand why he went with Magneto, but he's such an idiot for it yo! Even I can see that all metal head does is use people, and I'm not exactly the brightest guy out there."
Xavier raised an eyebrow and eyed Todd curiously. "You know something Mr. Tolensky, you've really surprised me this entire summer."
"Umm...is that a good thing yo?"
Xavier smiled. "Yes. You've shown a lot more maturity than I thought you possessed."
"Thanks?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that I thought you were immature. You've merely shown an unusual amount of insight and courage towards everything you've been through. To be honest, I still thought we would be working through your memories at this point."
Todd looked at the professor and shrugged. "Yeah well, when you've been though as much as I have, you kinda gotta learn to deal with things fast."
"Todd, you and the others are astounding young men."
Todd sat back and gave the professor an odd look. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to that. As far as Todd knew, all he had done was be himself.
Xavier laughed softly and shook his head. "Sorry Todd. I was thinking out loud. You can go on downstairs now. I hear the kids rented "Robin Hood Men In Tights.""
Todd grinned. "Thanks proff." He began to open the door then stopped. "Really professor, thank you."
Xavier nodded and Todd closed the door behind him. Xavier wheeled to the window and frowned. The pieces Magneto had left behind were slowly being picked up one by one, but there was still a long way to go with Wanda, Jubilee, and Roberto. He knew time would help them as much as anything else.
~Charles! What. Did. You. Do!?~
Xavier winced as Magneto's mental voice echoed in his mind. He had been expecting it for several days now, but it had still come as a surprise.
~I did nothing Magnus. You made a mistake.~
~Listen old man!~ Xavier flinched then rolled his eyes at the fury Magneto was projecting at him. It was rare for Magneto to show himself so riled up, and it didn't suit him at all. ~I woke up with a killer headache and some fuzzy memories. I know it was you damnit!~
Xavier took a deep breath. ~Erik, I did not give you any fake memories, I merely blocked a few. I let you remember a few choice occurrences.~
From his hideout just outside New York City, Magneto scowled as the memories filtered though his mind. He clearly remembered the X-Men refusing his offer to join his army and Todd and Lance defying him until he gave them no alternatives. Most clearly however, he remembered his daughter, staring at him with defiance, and his son's words, lashing at him calmly despite the chaos in the room, 'You don't own me.' Xavier had removed the incidents of Jubes' and Roberto's agreements to join him from his mind.
~Magnus, leave, the children, alone. You have hurt them enough, and I won't let you do it again. I do not hide your ideas from them, and I do not purposely shroud your name with hate and violence. They come to those conclusions on their own. Let them make their own choices.~
Xavier paused and waited for a response; there wasn't one. There didn't need to be.
"Old friend," Xavier said aloud to his office, "one day it will be better, but until then there is no need to destroy the lives of innocents...no need at all..."
The professor left the office, massaging his temples, and headed towards the common room to make sure no one was trying to kill anyone over who got to hold the bowl of popcorn. It was a rather frequent battle.
He sat at the door and smiled faintly at his students, all enjoying themselves without any hint that they had been tortured days before. The only signs were the few of them that wore casts and the fact that Kitty was secluded on her own couch due to her ribs.
Xavier smiled faintly at the brotherhood. All three were crammed onto a couch with Kurt and Bobby. There were some things that the professor had never wanted to say out loud, and one of those things was that he never thought the brotherhood would change. Before they had appeared on his doorstep nearly two months ago, he never expected them to leave Magneto's side. He was all too happy to admit he was wrong. The brotherhood had reached a turning point, that much was clear. It saddened him to think that they had to suffer through all that they had to reach their decisions, but at least they had the chance to make choices of their own now. He had no doubt that the three of them would turn out just fine.
Xavier wheeled out of the room, lost in his thoughts. 'It's amazing how much three teenagers can handle. Astounding young men......yes, astounding young men.'
A/N: That took soooo long to write. Why? I dunno. It just did. Please let me know what you thought and if I skipped over something that needed closure let me know... the epilogue closes things much better than this chapter does so don't panic. I promise I'll do review responses next update.
Moving on Part II
Lance drew a sharp breath and volleyed a series of punches and kicks at the punching bad suspended in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he half growled as he closed his eyes and swung blindly in the abandoned weight room.
"Your form is awful."
Lance froze and spun around to see Logan preparing to load more weights onto one of the many bars in the room.
"I wasn't exactly going for good form," Lance said angrily.
Logan stopped and looked over at the brunette. Placing the weight back on the floor, he took a seat on the bench.
"Then what were you going for exactly?"
Lance rolled his eyes and shrugged. He had the feeling Logan already knew what his goal was: release of pent up...everything.
"I kinda have a temper problem sometimes," Lance sighed.
Logan grunted in response. Lance blew his sweaty bangs out of his face and headed for the door. Having someone witness his version of controlled temper tantrums was not something he was up for at the moment.
"Lance..." Lance paused just before the doorway and turned slightly, "Come 'ere."
Lance looked back at Logan quizzically, then came over and sat on an adjacent bench. Despite his overwhelming desire to go off and find something to kick, refusing wolverine's request was probably not such a good idea.
"What?" he asked blankly.
Logan raised his eyebrows slightly and tilted his head. "I say we can both cut the polite shit and you can tell me what's up... or you can leave. It's up to you."
Lance sat, stunned, and stared at Logan in surprise. 'Well this is... different. I didn't think Mr. Adamantium here did the whole talking thing much' Lance dropped his head slightly and smirked. "You're really terrible at the whole sympathetic thing you know that?"
Logan simply stared at Lance. "Ya I'm aware of that," he said nonchalantly, "So you gonna tell me what's up or did I make a moron out of myself for nothing?"
Lance didn't even bother to weigh his options. He was too tired of fearing what other people might think of him. Logan could think he was a whiney brat for all he cared at the moment. He was the one that wanted to know what was up, and Lance was sure as hell gonna tell him.
"I'm pissed," he stated flatly, "Pissed that the world is the way it is about mutants, and that I've gotta grow up the way I have, and that I care so damn much about other people, and damnit, I'm pissed that my head hurts! Magneto just *had* to go all postal and make me use my powers! So now I'm stuck with dealing with a splitting pain every time I make the earth move. Damn, I used to love that power, now I could care less."
Lance stopped his rant and sucked air through his nostrils in an attempt to cool down. Logan waited in silence for Lance to get himself together again.
"How do you know it's permanent?" he asked at last.
"Hank told me," Lance said bitterly, but his voice was much sadder now that he had calmed down some, "It's not nearly as bad as before, but I'm still stuck with it. The rational part of me is trying to remember that at least the pain isn't constant, and it's manageable, but right now I really don't give a shit. To hell with rationality anyway. Nothing in my life ever makes sense, and in the rare moments that it does, mutant recruiters come inject me with who knows what in the middle of the night and abduct me from my house!"
Lance looked up and fought to keep the scowl on his face. Logan was looking at him the same as he always did, and Lance was glad for that. The last thing he wanted was to be pitied. He began to tap his foot in the awkward silence.
Logan wasn't exactly the most talkative of people, but he'd surprised Lance more than once with what he'd had to say. When Logan finally spoke up, Lance found that the wolverine was about to surprise him yet again.
"Look Lance, you're at a real funny age."
Lance rose his eyebrows and snorted. "Uh, I'm pretty sure I'm past that speech Logan."
Logan rolled his eyes, a rather odd expression for him, and continued. "That wasn't the age I was referring to. The point is you aren't so special in this case. Everybody has to come to the point where they decide who they're gonna be. Happens to every eighteen year old as far as I'm concerned. You just gotta deal with it."
"Again, your sympathy amazes me," Lance said dryly, "But damn Logan, most eighteen year olds don't have to look after a sixteen and seventeen year old. How am I supposed to plan a future around that huh?"
"You don't have to," Logan said simply, "Todd and Pietro are fine."
Lance shook his head and smirked, "Yeah, and Kurt is bald," he muttered sarcastically.
"Actually, Kurt is bald around the wrists."
It was true, Kurt's wrists were completely bare of any fur, courtesy of Magneto who had caused Kurt's bracelets to spin at mach ten around his wrists. The result was an impressive friction burn. The other students all had dark bruises along their wrists and ankles, but no one dared complain after seeing Kurt.
"Shut up smart ass. You know what I meant. Pietro and Todd are a wreck. Todd hates change. He's gonna have a hard time if I move out, and *someone* has to keep Pietro under control."
Logan leaned forward and looked directly at Lance. "They are not your responsibility Lance. Todd will adjust fine, and I'm pretty certain I can handle Pietro."
"You've never seen him when he's had caffeine," Lance said slowly. There such a seriousness in his voice that Logan refrained from comment. "I'm serious, *strange* things happen to that boy after an eight ounce bottle of coke. I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you, even though the girls can out bench him. And as for Todd, he doesn't adjust well."
"Is that so?" Logan stood up and pulled Lance up as well by the elbow. Lance followed Logan to the common room until the older man put his arm out to stop him and gestured to be quiet.
Lance looked up at Logan in confusion then peered around the door. Todd was on the couch with Rahne, Sam, and Ray, yelling gamecube instructions at Sam. Lance watched as Todd laughed and argued with Ray over nothing. After about five minutes, Lance realized what Logan had brought him up here to see. It was utterly simple, but the effect was huge. Despite the fact that his arm was stuck in a sling, Todd was having fun. He was just being himself, goofing off and having a good time, even going so far as to occasionally flirt with Rahne, which he meant nothing by. Lance watched all this in awe.
"Looks like he's adjusting just fine if you ask me," Logan said quietly. "And Pietro isn't too far behind him."
Lance sighed and drew away from the door. He suddenly felt like a fool, but an incredibly relieved fool none the less.
"Lance, *you* don't need to worry about them anymore. It's over, you don't have to be their dad anymore, just their friend."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Mr LeBeau...right?"
Gambit flicked his eyes up from his can of soda and snorted. "For crying out loud I'm not *that* much older than you. Remy is fine, besides, the uh... 'accent' you put on LeBeau is not something I want to hear again."
Ray nodded and linked his thumbs over his pockets and mumbled an apology of some kind. "Uh, so... can I ask you something?" he asked timidly.
Gambit raised an eyebrow and gave Ray an odd look. "Only if you stop acting so nervous about it. I'm not going to blow you up or something kid.
Ray's eyes widened. "Can you *do* that?"
Gambit arched his eyebrow again and remained silent. He didn't really blame the kids for being so nervous around him, but it still annoyed him slightly. If he had any intentions of harming anyone, he would have done it by now. In truth, he wished some of them *would* come near him. Logan and Ororo, he had decided, were about as exciting to talk to as a brick wall. In short: Remy had been bored out of his mind.
"Well anyway," Ray continued, "Some of us...we kinda wanna know what the heck is up with that Wanda chick."
Remy smirked. "And so you've been elected to come ask the scary ex-lackey about her because you know the professor won't tell you what you want to know."
Ray's ears went slightly pink as he shook his head. "No I...we...well yeah, ok."
Remy laughed and gestured for Ray to take a seat. "Are your friends just outside the door?"
Ray's ears went a slightly darker shade of red as he nodded. Remy let out a low laugh again as Bobby, Amara, and Rahne filed into the kitchen sheepishly.
"There isn't much to tell. Magneto brainwashed her basically, with the help of Mastermind."
"Uh...who?" Amara asked.
"A mutant. He altered her mind, and not for the first time. She's just very confused because somehow she managed to break free of whatever cap he put on her memories."
Rahne sneered and shook her head. "That's sick...screwing up your own daughters mind."
"What?" Ray gasped.
"You didn't know?"
Ray shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense though because Wanda and Pietro are...heeeey! Wait a minute!"
"Jeez man, where the heck have you been?" Bobby said, rolling his eyes.
"Shut up," Ray said, nudging Bobby in the ribs slightly. "Man, that is one screwed up family. No wonder Pietro is so damn moody."
"Mmm." Remy agreed, "I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you kept that to yourself though."
"Yeah really. Jeez Ray," Amara scolded. Ray shrugged in response. "So where's this Mastermind guy now? What if Magneto tries to brainwash us all?"
Remy shook his head in partial amusement. "Mastermind couldn't brainwash *all* of you chere, so don't get all worked up over it. Besides, he's off in Europe somewhere I think. My guess would be in an attempt to manipulate a few political people over there, who knows."
"Well what about that other guy? The big metal one?" Rahne asked. "Seems to me *none* of you want to be working for Magneto."
Gambit pursed his lips and tilted his head. "Mmm. Colossus wouldn't even have been on Magneto's side in the first place. His family is in some kind of trouble, or danger, and Magneto's the one in control of the whole ordeal. I don't have a clue what the ordeal even is so don't bother to ask. Basically if Colossus doesn't do everything metal head says, his family is history. So he can't leave."
The four students blinked.
"That sucks," Bobby said, awkwardly filling the silence.
"Yes well, that's Magneto for you. He's got some decent ideas, then he's got his loony ones. But enough of that, I have a question for you four. How did you get away from Toxin?"
The four young mutant's eyes lit up at the reminder of their victory.
"It was *so* cool!" Amara stated. "We totally took her out! Well, I mean, it wasn't cool till *after.* At the time it royally sucked."
"Yeah, the X-Men had it easy. All they had to do was have Rogue get close enough to touch that other guy. *We* had to actually fight," Ray whined.
Remy grinned. This was far more entertaining than information on plants from Ororo. "How about a play by play?"
The four teens launched into explanation all at once. They'd been dying for a chance to brag about they had brought Toxin down, but everyone else in the mansion had been so sullen lately. The new recruits had a routine: when bad things happened, they would all just get over it as quickly as possible. Yes, they were badly shaken, but being slightly younger than most of the other X-Men, they could still retreat to the untouchable world that kids entered in and out of occasionally. They were still young enough to block out the rest of the world and live in their personal realms.
Though it would seem naive to some, the younger mutants were very aware that it wouldn't last forever. Rahne in particular was now more keenly aware of it then ever. Ever since they had spent the day in the mall with Todd, she had seen what growing up too fast could do to people, and made it her personal mission to help Todd out somehow. She wasn't sure how the older X-Men handled taking on the weight of the world.
"So anyway, that's when the instructors found us..."
"And Hank yanked my arm back into place," Rahne finished bitterly.
"Ick. I *still* don't think bones should ever make that kind of noise," Amara said.
"They shouldn't," Rahne grumbled. "I think maybe..." Rahne trailed off as Roberto and Jubilee entered the kitchen.
The group of chattering teens instantly became silent. Gambit glanced at Roberto and Jubes, who were now searching for something to drink, and then back at the remaining teens. He frowned slightly.
"Afternoon," he said to Roberto and Jubes.
The pair looked up, both with surprised looks, and smiled at Remy before noticing the glares that the other kids were sending them.
Remy once again noticed the obvious tension and rolled his eyes. "You know, funny thing about Magneto is, he's so damn persuasive, *anyone* could be convinced to take his side."
The teens all stared at him with various glares and scowls.
"Yeah, but you would *think* that some people would know the difference between a strong leader and a complete psycho!" Bobby seethed.
Roberto snapped at that point. He'd had enough of the glares and awkward silences. They were either going to openly hate one another or get over the whole thing. Either way, the stupid silences had to stop.
"That's it! I've had it! We screwed up ok? We did dumb stuff! Like none of you've done anything stupid before!"
"Not something stupid enough to betray my friends over!" Rahne screamed.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Gambit interrupted. He had no desire to witness a screaming contest. "How bout we figure out just why exactly your so pissed off at each other?"
No one moved.
"Well then, shall we see if I *can* in fact blow someone up?"
Roberto and Jubilee immediately took a seat.
"You said the guy actually had some good ideas Roberto!" Ray blurted out. "I mean come on!"
Gambit sniffed slightly in an attempt to cover his amusement. "He *does* have some decent ideas. Unless of course you think peace for all mutant kind is a bad thing."
"Huh?"
Gambit sighed. "Magneto is manipulative, he specializes in telling you how great things will be when he succeeds in whatever he's working on at the time. He wants good for mutant kind in all honesty, he just goes about it the wrong way."
"Yeah, If I had known he was willing to kill people who were against him, I would never have said I'd join him," Jubilee said softly, "I was scared as hell, and here was this guy telling me how things will be so wonderful if I say yes to him. What was I supposed to do?"
The teens fell silent.
"If I leave you in here, can I trust that you won't try to kill each other?" Remy asked.
The group of mutants nodded reluctantly. They had to argue about this sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"You know, pacing around your own room isn't going to do much good. You kinda need to *talk* to her."
Pietro scowled at Lance and continued to walk from one side of the room to the other. "Well thank you *so* much for your lovely insight. I was *completely* unaware of that."
Lance rolled his eyes and tried to concentrate on reading some of the information Xavier had given him on the U.M.P.A. After his chat with Logan, Lance figured he may as well help himself out as far as figuring out a future went. Besides, he needed something to take his mind off of the events of a few days ago. He read about three lines when Pietro began to alternate from a casual pacing to a mutated one.
"Ok, that's it," Lance sighed, shoving the stack of papers onto his bedside table.
He pulled himself off the bed and caught Pietro by the arm.
"Hey, what are you..."
"*I'm* not doing anything. *You,* on the other hand, are going to talk to your sister right now before you drive me completely insane," Lance said calmly, pulling Pietro toward the door.
Pietro struggled in Lance's grip and dug his heels into the carpet. "Aww come on Lance! Not right now!"
Lance stopped and faced Pietro. The younger boy suddenly looked quite terrified. Sighing, Lance released Pietro's arm.
"You gotta do it Tro. The sooner the better."
"Yeah but...but I, what if..."
"What if nothing! What *if* Magneto takes over the world tomorrow? What *if* the world turns itself upside down? What *if* Todd smells decent one of these day? The point is we ain't ever gonna know till it happens!"
Pietro bit his lip and looked at his feet. "Yeah I know," he said quietly, "But I'm not so sure I want to know. If I loose her too Lance, I'm not so sure what I'll do. I don't think I would forgive me if I was her ya know?"
Lance's expression softened and he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You gotta look at it from both ways Tro. *You're* all she has, know what I mean? It's not like she doesn't loose anything if she tosses you aside. Go talk to her."
Pietro looked up and sighed. Lance gently directed him toward the door and Pietro reluctantly headed off to find Wanda.
He found her sitting by herself with the TV on. She was channel surfing, but Pietro could tell she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what was flickering across the screen. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. Wanda instantly shut the TV off and spun around on the couch.
"It's-just-me!" Pietro said quickly, putting his hands up. "Can we...can we talk?"
Wanda looked around uncomfortably and then nodded, moving over slightly to make room for her brother. They both sat in silence while Pietro wracked his brain for something to say.
"Wanda...I...I'm sorry. I don't know how much you remember but I'd bet anything that it's not good."
Wanda turned and looked at Pietro, sizing him up. Pietro winced and waited for her to explode at him.
"I remember some good things," she said slowly.
"You do?" Pietro asked, slightly shocked that she wasn't screaming at him, "Like what?"
"Just...stupid stuff. Like us when we were little. It all kinda goes downhill from there though," she paused and lowered her eyes. "I remember you abandoning me," she said softly.
Pietro drew a sharp breath and closed his eyes. "Wanda I never wanted to. I couldn't stop him. It was either that place or the Maximoff's! Do you remember them at all Wanda? What they did to you– to us?"
Wanda's eyes flashed. "Yes! But anything would have been better than that cell!" she roared, the lights flickering as she did. "At least with the Maximoff's I wasn't alone! Do you have any idea it's like being so alone!?"
"Yeah! I do!" he shouted back, "Damnit Wanda! I lost you too ya know! And he abandoned me too, just in different ways," Pietro clenched his eyes shut and his voice softened. "If I had known it was going to be that bad for you, I swear I would have gone after you somehow. I thought- I thought that it would be better for you there, I swear."
Wanda stared at her brother with a mixture of indecision on her face. Pietro..." she whispered.
Pietro tried to hide his shock as he took in his sister. It had been years since he had seen her as anything but an angry and bitter person. Now, she was close to tears. Pietro knew better than to think she looked weak, his sister was anything but frail, but she looked so utterly lost that she seemed more or less helpless despite her rock solid posture and body language.
"I want to trust you!" she said loudly, tears breaking free from her bloodshot eyes, "There's just so much in my head! I can't figure it all out, I just can't!" She bent her head down and clasped her hands over her hair, sobbing quietly. "You only tried to talk to me once after Mystique brought me back! Just once! Why? Why Pietro?"
Pietro swallowed hard, stunned at Wanda's behavior. He felt the all too familiar prick of tears in his own eyes but brushed them away quickly.
"I-was-scared-ok! You wanted to *kill* me when you first got there. I was scared that you wouldn't want to be my sister anymore, or something stupid. I don't know. Wanda I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Pietro drew his knees up to the couch and wrapped his arms around himself. After Magneto had wiped her memories the first time, Pietro had never made an attempt to get too near his sister. He couldn't handle seeing the fake Wanda. He felt guilty, ashamed, and scared all at once about the whole thing. He didn't want her to know that he had hurt her.
"Of course I wanted to be your sister! Hell, that's *all* I really wanted. Why couldn't you see that?" Wanda asked through her tears.
Pietro hugged himself tighter and willed his own tears to stay back. "Because I was so awful to you. I had no right trying to get close to you again. I knew he brainwashed you that first time, and I didn't do a damn thing about it! Not a damn thing! Wanda, you should hate me!"
"No. I can't hate you. I just can't."
The twins sat in silence, Wanda with her head down, tears dripping from her lashes and onto the floor, and Pietro with the salty liquid forming in the corners of his eyes but not making their way down his cheeks. He wanted to scream, wanted to tell her again and again that he never wanted to hurt her. He was just too scared to get too attached again, so he had watched her suffer in silence at the boarding house. He wished more than anything he hadn't been so stupid then.
"Wanda, I'm so sorry."
Wanda looked up and brushed the tears off of her eyelashes. She tilted her head slowly to one side, sniffling slightly.
Staring him hard in the face, she asked, "Do you mean that. Do you *really* mean that?"
Pietro nodded. He was slightly surprised by the strong tone in her voice. She was asking him the question seriously, rather than just searching for reassurance.
"I want to help you...please."
Wanda took a slow, shuddery breath and closed her eyes. "Ok."
Pietro wasn't positive what that meant at the moment, but he'd take it. Cautiously, he wrapped his arm around her, waiting to see her reaction. She looked up at him briefly, then latched her arms around him and collapsed into sobs.
"Shh," Pietro soothed, "It's ok sis. He can't hurt us anymore. I won't let him ever again."
Wanda buried her face deeper into Pietro's shoulder and continued to cry. All that mattered to her at this point was that she could trust her brother again. She wasn't sure why exactly, but he was really the only person she had now; she wasn't about to let that go.
Pietro rested his head on Wanda's hair as his own tears slipped down his face. He knew that he was partly to blame for Wanda's confusion, but he had to help her, and he would, with time.
After a while, the twins both calmed down slightly and pulled apart. Wanda made a vain attempt to compose herself again and bit her lip.
"Wanda listen to me," Pietro said softly, "I'm..." Pietro cringed to himself. He hated admitting to things like this. It was all so much emotion and so much drama and he hated the weakness, but he had to do it. "I'm-scared-to-let-you-get-close-to-me-again."
Wanda took a moment to process what he said and gave him a quizzical look.
Pietro sighed and ran a hand over his hair nervously. "Anything that meant something to me...Magneto took. It's his way of controlling me, no matter how many times he tries to convince himself he's only trying to help me. I know that now, and I won't let him do it anymore. But...but I'm still afraid. I shut people out."
"I'm surprised you can admit that," Wanda said honestly.
Pietro smirked. "I've had some counseling."
Wanda smiled a little at that and moved closer to Pietro. "I want to be you sister again Pietro. You help me, and I'll help you, ok? Seems like we both have some shit to get through."
Pietro smiled faintly. "Yeah, but I think it just got a whole lot easier."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Todd slouched down in his chair in front of the professor with a sigh. They had reached the conclusion of yet another session. The professor seemed mildly surprised that being tortured hadn't really affected Todd too much. Todd had pretty much shrugged the whole thing off.
"I've seen a lot worse yo. Sure it was scary but I used to live with Fred, remember?"
The professor had nodded and made a mental note that Todd had indeed improved in the seemingly short two months that he had been here. He shouldn't really have been too surprised with his reaction to Magneto. Kurt had dealt with things in pretty much the same way; he shrugged it off with a "Zat's mutant life for you," and moved on.
"One more thing before you go Todd," the professor said.
Todd waited expectantly. He really wanted to get down to the kitchen where the others were making ice cream floats and popcorn for the movie they had rented. Todd was hoping for an action film, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be that lucky, as Jean and Scott were the ones who had picked it out.
"About Fred," the professor began, "any thoughts on what he did?"
Todd sighed. He knew this would come up eventually. "'Course I've got thoughts on it yo. Me, Lance, and Pietro already talked about it."
A short silence followed. "I suppose you want me to tell you what we talked about?" Todd said, rolling his eyes.
"Well that's the general idea," the Xavier said with a smile.
"It's like this proff, he did way too much damage to just let it all go after one act of...of whatever it is you call that. Pietro, he thinks Fred's a complete idiot for not coming back with us. Not that we'd really want him to, but still. Pietro's real good at holding grudges ya know? Lance on the other hand is so sick of hating people that he just doesn't care anymore that Fred's an ass hole. He said something about not ever having to deal with him again so it doesn't make a difference either way to him."
"Mmm. And you?"
Todd fidgeted slightly and looked around the room. "Me? I...I don't really know. I think Lance is wrong; we'll see Fred again. The way I see it, we're still enemies, just for different reasons. Before, it was because he was a jerk and beat up on me all the time. Now, it's 'cuz he's on the opposite side, ya know? I kinda feel bad for him actually. I mean, I understand why he went with Magneto, but he's such an idiot for it yo! Even I can see that all metal head does is use people, and I'm not exactly the brightest guy out there."
Xavier raised an eyebrow and eyed Todd curiously. "You know something Mr. Tolensky, you've really surprised me this entire summer."
"Umm...is that a good thing yo?"
Xavier smiled. "Yes. You've shown a lot more maturity than I thought you possessed."
"Thanks?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that I thought you were immature. You've merely shown an unusual amount of insight and courage towards everything you've been through. To be honest, I still thought we would be working through your memories at this point."
Todd looked at the professor and shrugged. "Yeah well, when you've been though as much as I have, you kinda gotta learn to deal with things fast."
"Todd, you and the others are astounding young men."
Todd sat back and gave the professor an odd look. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to that. As far as Todd knew, all he had done was be himself.
Xavier laughed softly and shook his head. "Sorry Todd. I was thinking out loud. You can go on downstairs now. I hear the kids rented "Robin Hood Men In Tights.""
Todd grinned. "Thanks proff." He began to open the door then stopped. "Really professor, thank you."
Xavier nodded and Todd closed the door behind him. Xavier wheeled to the window and frowned. The pieces Magneto had left behind were slowly being picked up one by one, but there was still a long way to go with Wanda, Jubilee, and Roberto. He knew time would help them as much as anything else.
~Charles! What. Did. You. Do!?~
Xavier winced as Magneto's mental voice echoed in his mind. He had been expecting it for several days now, but it had still come as a surprise.
~I did nothing Magnus. You made a mistake.~
~Listen old man!~ Xavier flinched then rolled his eyes at the fury Magneto was projecting at him. It was rare for Magneto to show himself so riled up, and it didn't suit him at all. ~I woke up with a killer headache and some fuzzy memories. I know it was you damnit!~
Xavier took a deep breath. ~Erik, I did not give you any fake memories, I merely blocked a few. I let you remember a few choice occurrences.~
From his hideout just outside New York City, Magneto scowled as the memories filtered though his mind. He clearly remembered the X-Men refusing his offer to join his army and Todd and Lance defying him until he gave them no alternatives. Most clearly however, he remembered his daughter, staring at him with defiance, and his son's words, lashing at him calmly despite the chaos in the room, 'You don't own me.' Xavier had removed the incidents of Jubes' and Roberto's agreements to join him from his mind.
~Magnus, leave, the children, alone. You have hurt them enough, and I won't let you do it again. I do not hide your ideas from them, and I do not purposely shroud your name with hate and violence. They come to those conclusions on their own. Let them make their own choices.~
Xavier paused and waited for a response; there wasn't one. There didn't need to be.
"Old friend," Xavier said aloud to his office, "one day it will be better, but until then there is no need to destroy the lives of innocents...no need at all..."
The professor left the office, massaging his temples, and headed towards the common room to make sure no one was trying to kill anyone over who got to hold the bowl of popcorn. It was a rather frequent battle.
He sat at the door and smiled faintly at his students, all enjoying themselves without any hint that they had been tortured days before. The only signs were the few of them that wore casts and the fact that Kitty was secluded on her own couch due to her ribs.
Xavier smiled faintly at the brotherhood. All three were crammed onto a couch with Kurt and Bobby. There were some things that the professor had never wanted to say out loud, and one of those things was that he never thought the brotherhood would change. Before they had appeared on his doorstep nearly two months ago, he never expected them to leave Magneto's side. He was all too happy to admit he was wrong. The brotherhood had reached a turning point, that much was clear. It saddened him to think that they had to suffer through all that they had to reach their decisions, but at least they had the chance to make choices of their own now. He had no doubt that the three of them would turn out just fine.
Xavier wheeled out of the room, lost in his thoughts. 'It's amazing how much three teenagers can handle. Astounding young men......yes, astounding young men.'
A/N: That took soooo long to write. Why? I dunno. It just did. Please let me know what you thought and if I skipped over something that needed closure let me know... the epilogue closes things much better than this chapter does so don't panic. I promise I'll do review responses next update.