Author's Note: Ok, I know that the physical descriptions don't exactly
match with the comics (Pietro looks more like the Evolution version, and
Wanda's look was just something I picked up from this girl I know who has
the same features), but.who cares? I mean really. I've been to all kinds of
web sites and message boards and have read countless posts about the movie
and Evolution cartoon series not being true to the comics, but I think that
the comics were way too weird. So anyway, if the dates don't match up
completely to the comic chronology, get over it and just enjoy something a
little different, ok?
*^*^*^*^*
John tried to focus, but his head was still swimming. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, but it was so hard.
"Pietro, was that really necessary?" he heard Magneto ask from above him.
"No, but it was fun." Said someone else.
"God, Pietro! What did you do to John?! You better not have given him any brain damage!" he heard Mystique hiss.
"Hey, I wasn't the one spying on us, ok? He should have known better, whoever he is." Came the unknown voice.
"We should get him inside." Said a second female voice.
"Yeah, Eric help me, please." Mystique said.
John felt two sets of arms help him stand up. He was wobbly on his feet, and he could already feel the bruise of a black eye coming on, but he'd be okay. Mystique guided him into the apartment and over to the couch in the room she shared with Eric.
"Here, just lay down. I'll be back in a few minutes." John nodded and mumbled some sort of response, but she didn't pay him any mind as she followed Eric, Wanda and Pietro.
*^*^*^*^*^*
"John, are you awake?"
He opened his eyes to find Mystique hovering above him, "Yeah, what happened?" he asked once he felt a dull ache on his face and in the back of his head.
She grasped his hands and helped him stand up. "I told you not to bother Eric, but you didn't deserve that much punishment."
As they descended the stairs, John found that he couldn't quite remember what she was talking about. "What do you mean?" he asked as he followed her into the kitchen.
"Have a seat." She told him.
He sat down on one of the black stools that went to the kitchen island and waited for an explanation.
Mystique was pawing through the refrigerator, looking for something. As John waited, she dug through the drawers and shelves.
"Ah, here we go." She said, brandishing a frozen steak.
"Dinner?" he asked as she slipped the meat into a plastic bag.
"No, here. It's an old remedy, but it's all we have right now." She said as she held it to his eye.
"What happened to me?" he asked.
Mystique took a stool across the island from him, "You got your ass kicked, that's what."
"Why? I didn't do anything."
"Oh, yes you did. Eric doesn't like being spied on, never has, and the apples didn't fall far from the tree."
"What apples?"
Mystique rolled her eyes and sighed, "Eric's apples! Don't you remember seeing other people with him on the roof before Pietro threw you through the doors?"
"Who's Pietro?"
"Eric's son."
"He's got a kid?!"
Mystique put her face in her hands, "Let's start over, ok? I'll go slow, and you let me know if I'm going too fast."
John held the frozen steak to his eye a bit more firmly and leaned in, determined to catch every detail.
"Eric has children. Two of them, twins."
"Wow, really? No one ever told me that."
"One is a boy named Pietro, the other is a girl named Wanda."
"Pietro threw me threw the glass doors?" John asked, feeling a touch of anger.
"Yes. The twins have lived abroad for most of their lives, but for whatever reason, they've decided to come here."
John sat back in his chair, a little dumbstruck.
Magneto. Children. Who knew?
Then, an idea occurred to him. "Hey Mystique?"
"Yes?"
"Those twins aren't yours and his, are they?"
Mystique gave him a dangerous look, "You'd better watch your mouth. I didn't tell you anything more than the basics, Eric will probably tell you the whole story later. They're coming back soon, for dinner."
John got off his stool and left the kitchen.
It was a lot to take in. Before, he hadn't thought too much about Magneto's personal past. All he knew was that he was in the Holocaust (a well known fact, and a topic that John had always shied away from mentioning out of respect), and after it was over, he met the Professor somewhere along the way.
Anything outside of that, he just figured that Magneto had gone on adventures. Fighting anyone who wanted to hurt mutants, acquiring more wealth than John could ever dream of, building machines and bases.
Just your standard villain mischief.
However, he had greatly miscalculated by dismissing the idea of Magneto having any semblance of normalcy to his life.
Children.
John glanced at his reflection in a hallway mirror. The semicircle of purple was already forming on his cheek and around his eye. He sighed in irritation.
Magneto's son or no, he'd be repaid for the damage he did to John.
Behind him, he heard voices. John returned to the large center room, and found Magneto to be the only occupant.
Looking up, he said, "Ah, John. I'm glad to see you back on your feet. I hope there was no severe damage?" he asked sincerely.
John shrugged, feeling awkward. "Uh, no, I'm fine."
Magneto smiled, and put his hand on John's shoulder, "Good, good. I know you must be starving, so come, I've arranged for some fine dining tonight."
John walked beside Eric into the dining room, where Wanda and Pietro were already seated.
'Well, this ought to be interesting.' He thought.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
It was weird, watching Wanda, Pietro and Magneto. John had picked at his plate, but he found that he didn't have much of an appetite.
Magneto had taught him many things over the past months that John had been in his company. He had helped John to refine his control over the flames, but his lessons weren't always about mutant powers.
Magneto had taught John the finer points of people watching; the gestures that they made, the expressions they used, the physical characteristics that revealed any relation among them.
Watching Magneto and the twins, John put his developing skill into use.
The first thing he noticed was that Wanda and Pietro didn't even look like twins.
Pietro looked just like Magneto. His body was leanly muscular and he stood a few inches shorter than his father. He had Magneto's sharp facial features: cheekbones and jaw line. They shared the same piercing blue gaze as well.
There were, of course, subtle differences. While Magneto was ultimately bigger, Pietro had a wiry strength about him. John had seen pictures of Magneto, the Professor kept one of them together from years ago on his desk, he had had dark brown hair. Though his hair was now slowly fading to dark gray, Pietro's hair was nearly platinum, and John didn't think that it came from a bottle.
Wanda was a different story altogether. She looked very out of place in their small family.
While both Pietro and Magneto were relatively pale, she had very tan skin, with long wavy black hair. Her face was pretty: she had large almond-shaped brown eyes with long lashes, a cute nose, and bowed lips. Her body was slender; she was tall for a girl, but still the shortest one in the room.
She didn't look anything like Magneto, but as John watched her, he could find that they had a similar personality. Pietro struck John as a more outgoing kind of person, a show off and very sure of himself. Wanda and Magneto, however, were a little more introverted and calm.
There were traits they shared with Magneto, though. Just by listening to them, John could already tell that they were both highly intelligent, cunning and thoroughly convinced of their superiority.
Which, of course, answered the question of whether or not they had inherited the mutant factor.
"John, are you alright?" hearing his name snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?! Yeah, I'm fine." He answered.
"You've barely eaten." Magneto stated.
"I'm ok, but I think I'm gonna turn in early." John got up and left the table without asking to be excused.
*^*^*^*^*^*
John laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. He felt weird.
His head didn't hurt as much as it did earlier, and the swelling around his eye had gone down. He felt sore, but considering the damage he had taken on, he was lucky.
No, he felt weird emotionally.
From the moment Mystique enlightened him about Magneto's progeny, he felt the odd emotion that he couldn't quite explain.
It had taken several hours of staring at the ceiling for him to come to a realization: he was jealous.
Jealous.
Magneto had had children with a woman, how dare he?
John was indignant, he knew that his feelings were foolish, but he couldn't help the way he felt.
He had never known about them, and he felt left out since he was the only one that hadn't known.
Magneto. John had liked him since they first met on the jet. He was powerful, confident, superior. He drew John to him like a moth to a flame- pardon the expression.
Despite his initial misgivings on Magneto and Mystique's intentions toward him, John felt like they had become a team in the past months. Almost like a family. Magneto and Mystique had gone out of their way to provide for him, teach him, give him what he had longed for since he left home.
Then these two show up out of nowhere- they didn't even live in the country, if John remembered correctly- and get all of Magneto's attention?
It wasn't fair, but John knew there was nothing he could do about it, they were Magneto's kids.John wasn't.
'They sure won the genetic lottery.' John thought bitterly as he rolled over and tried to sleep.
Some kids got all the luck.
*^*^*^*^*
John tried to focus, but his head was still swimming. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, but it was so hard.
"Pietro, was that really necessary?" he heard Magneto ask from above him.
"No, but it was fun." Said someone else.
"God, Pietro! What did you do to John?! You better not have given him any brain damage!" he heard Mystique hiss.
"Hey, I wasn't the one spying on us, ok? He should have known better, whoever he is." Came the unknown voice.
"We should get him inside." Said a second female voice.
"Yeah, Eric help me, please." Mystique said.
John felt two sets of arms help him stand up. He was wobbly on his feet, and he could already feel the bruise of a black eye coming on, but he'd be okay. Mystique guided him into the apartment and over to the couch in the room she shared with Eric.
"Here, just lay down. I'll be back in a few minutes." John nodded and mumbled some sort of response, but she didn't pay him any mind as she followed Eric, Wanda and Pietro.
*^*^*^*^*^*
"John, are you awake?"
He opened his eyes to find Mystique hovering above him, "Yeah, what happened?" he asked once he felt a dull ache on his face and in the back of his head.
She grasped his hands and helped him stand up. "I told you not to bother Eric, but you didn't deserve that much punishment."
As they descended the stairs, John found that he couldn't quite remember what she was talking about. "What do you mean?" he asked as he followed her into the kitchen.
"Have a seat." She told him.
He sat down on one of the black stools that went to the kitchen island and waited for an explanation.
Mystique was pawing through the refrigerator, looking for something. As John waited, she dug through the drawers and shelves.
"Ah, here we go." She said, brandishing a frozen steak.
"Dinner?" he asked as she slipped the meat into a plastic bag.
"No, here. It's an old remedy, but it's all we have right now." She said as she held it to his eye.
"What happened to me?" he asked.
Mystique took a stool across the island from him, "You got your ass kicked, that's what."
"Why? I didn't do anything."
"Oh, yes you did. Eric doesn't like being spied on, never has, and the apples didn't fall far from the tree."
"What apples?"
Mystique rolled her eyes and sighed, "Eric's apples! Don't you remember seeing other people with him on the roof before Pietro threw you through the doors?"
"Who's Pietro?"
"Eric's son."
"He's got a kid?!"
Mystique put her face in her hands, "Let's start over, ok? I'll go slow, and you let me know if I'm going too fast."
John held the frozen steak to his eye a bit more firmly and leaned in, determined to catch every detail.
"Eric has children. Two of them, twins."
"Wow, really? No one ever told me that."
"One is a boy named Pietro, the other is a girl named Wanda."
"Pietro threw me threw the glass doors?" John asked, feeling a touch of anger.
"Yes. The twins have lived abroad for most of their lives, but for whatever reason, they've decided to come here."
John sat back in his chair, a little dumbstruck.
Magneto. Children. Who knew?
Then, an idea occurred to him. "Hey Mystique?"
"Yes?"
"Those twins aren't yours and his, are they?"
Mystique gave him a dangerous look, "You'd better watch your mouth. I didn't tell you anything more than the basics, Eric will probably tell you the whole story later. They're coming back soon, for dinner."
John got off his stool and left the kitchen.
It was a lot to take in. Before, he hadn't thought too much about Magneto's personal past. All he knew was that he was in the Holocaust (a well known fact, and a topic that John had always shied away from mentioning out of respect), and after it was over, he met the Professor somewhere along the way.
Anything outside of that, he just figured that Magneto had gone on adventures. Fighting anyone who wanted to hurt mutants, acquiring more wealth than John could ever dream of, building machines and bases.
Just your standard villain mischief.
However, he had greatly miscalculated by dismissing the idea of Magneto having any semblance of normalcy to his life.
Children.
John glanced at his reflection in a hallway mirror. The semicircle of purple was already forming on his cheek and around his eye. He sighed in irritation.
Magneto's son or no, he'd be repaid for the damage he did to John.
Behind him, he heard voices. John returned to the large center room, and found Magneto to be the only occupant.
Looking up, he said, "Ah, John. I'm glad to see you back on your feet. I hope there was no severe damage?" he asked sincerely.
John shrugged, feeling awkward. "Uh, no, I'm fine."
Magneto smiled, and put his hand on John's shoulder, "Good, good. I know you must be starving, so come, I've arranged for some fine dining tonight."
John walked beside Eric into the dining room, where Wanda and Pietro were already seated.
'Well, this ought to be interesting.' He thought.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
It was weird, watching Wanda, Pietro and Magneto. John had picked at his plate, but he found that he didn't have much of an appetite.
Magneto had taught him many things over the past months that John had been in his company. He had helped John to refine his control over the flames, but his lessons weren't always about mutant powers.
Magneto had taught John the finer points of people watching; the gestures that they made, the expressions they used, the physical characteristics that revealed any relation among them.
Watching Magneto and the twins, John put his developing skill into use.
The first thing he noticed was that Wanda and Pietro didn't even look like twins.
Pietro looked just like Magneto. His body was leanly muscular and he stood a few inches shorter than his father. He had Magneto's sharp facial features: cheekbones and jaw line. They shared the same piercing blue gaze as well.
There were, of course, subtle differences. While Magneto was ultimately bigger, Pietro had a wiry strength about him. John had seen pictures of Magneto, the Professor kept one of them together from years ago on his desk, he had had dark brown hair. Though his hair was now slowly fading to dark gray, Pietro's hair was nearly platinum, and John didn't think that it came from a bottle.
Wanda was a different story altogether. She looked very out of place in their small family.
While both Pietro and Magneto were relatively pale, she had very tan skin, with long wavy black hair. Her face was pretty: she had large almond-shaped brown eyes with long lashes, a cute nose, and bowed lips. Her body was slender; she was tall for a girl, but still the shortest one in the room.
She didn't look anything like Magneto, but as John watched her, he could find that they had a similar personality. Pietro struck John as a more outgoing kind of person, a show off and very sure of himself. Wanda and Magneto, however, were a little more introverted and calm.
There were traits they shared with Magneto, though. Just by listening to them, John could already tell that they were both highly intelligent, cunning and thoroughly convinced of their superiority.
Which, of course, answered the question of whether or not they had inherited the mutant factor.
"John, are you alright?" hearing his name snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?! Yeah, I'm fine." He answered.
"You've barely eaten." Magneto stated.
"I'm ok, but I think I'm gonna turn in early." John got up and left the table without asking to be excused.
*^*^*^*^*^*
John laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. He felt weird.
His head didn't hurt as much as it did earlier, and the swelling around his eye had gone down. He felt sore, but considering the damage he had taken on, he was lucky.
No, he felt weird emotionally.
From the moment Mystique enlightened him about Magneto's progeny, he felt the odd emotion that he couldn't quite explain.
It had taken several hours of staring at the ceiling for him to come to a realization: he was jealous.
Jealous.
Magneto had had children with a woman, how dare he?
John was indignant, he knew that his feelings were foolish, but he couldn't help the way he felt.
He had never known about them, and he felt left out since he was the only one that hadn't known.
Magneto. John had liked him since they first met on the jet. He was powerful, confident, superior. He drew John to him like a moth to a flame- pardon the expression.
Despite his initial misgivings on Magneto and Mystique's intentions toward him, John felt like they had become a team in the past months. Almost like a family. Magneto and Mystique had gone out of their way to provide for him, teach him, give him what he had longed for since he left home.
Then these two show up out of nowhere- they didn't even live in the country, if John remembered correctly- and get all of Magneto's attention?
It wasn't fair, but John knew there was nothing he could do about it, they were Magneto's kids.John wasn't.
'They sure won the genetic lottery.' John thought bitterly as he rolled over and tried to sleep.
Some kids got all the luck.