"So what do you guys do around here?" Wanda asked, lounging on the couch a week later, bored out of her skull. Heaving a big sigh, she picked up the remote control and clicked on the TV.

"Well, um, depends yo," Todd said, hopping into the room in time to hear the question. "Number one entertainment around here is go bother the Xgeeks."

"Yeah, those X dorks are gonna look like a joke next to us, thanks to you Wanda!" Pietro cackled, clapping his sister on the back. "Say hello to the new and improved Brotherhood!"

"Heh heh!" Todd laughed, nailing a fly with his tongue and slurping it in. Wanda rolled her eyes, grimacing at the disgusting sight.

"Toad, you rrrreeeaaalllllyyy gotta cut the deal with the fly thing," Pietro said. "Sheesh, and you wonder why you never get any girls!"

"I'll show you why you'll never again get any more girls either, Speedy!" Todd snarled, taking careful aim at Pietro's overperfect silky white hair.

"ARGH!!Notmyhair!Todd!Youdoandyoudie,buddy!Notthehair,notthehair,notthehair,notthehair.."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Ah! Saved by the bell!" And with that, Pietro was gone. A second later, the Brotherhood heard him fling the door open.

"HeyJulia,mysexygorgeouschica,readyforourda-... oh shit..."

It was Magneto.

"F-Father?" Pietro blinked. "What are you doi-?"

"That is not of utmost importance Pietro," Magneto interrupted. "I'm here for your sister, I know she's here." His voice rumbled with impatience.

*Ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit...* The speed demon's mind raced to come up with decent enough excuses. Something, anything to drive Magneto away, and prevent him from taking Wanda away from him again. But all that came up was empty blankness.

"Well? Move aside son!"

"Um, would you.. excuse me for just one second?" Pietro said, then zipped into the house and bolted the door before Magneto could even think to reply back. He didn't know how long the door would hold, considering the bolt was made of metal and his dad *was* the Master of Magnetism, but now was not the time to think about that.

"Guys!" Pietro ran into the livingroom, where everybody was at.

"What happened? What'd you do to the poor girl this time yo?"

"Shut up!" Pietro hissed. "Wanda, go upstairs."

"Wh-?"

"Go now!" There was no way Pietro was telling Wanda who was at the door. She'd probably want to go out there and knock Magneto's block off, and more than likely get killed for it.

Wanda gave Pietro the look. "Who's at the door, Pietro?" she asked. "I know it's not a girl."

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Pietro!" The bolt started to turn.

Wanda's eyes widened. The old familiar dark mask once again veiled her face as she stormed forward. The front door melted instantly, under her heated gaze, forming an ugly jagged gapping hole.

"You!" she snarled. "ARGH!" Reaching out with everything Agatha had ever taught her while with the Brotherhood, Wanda clenched her fists. The effect was amazing. Magneto flew back in the air, suspended there in midair by his own magnetic repelling power. Things crackled and burned around him.

"Uh oh.. this could mean trouble with the city yo," Todd gulped, watching the yard catch on fire.

"Um.. yeah.. just kinda.." Lance said. "Wanda, calm down!" He glanced at Pietro for help. "Hey Pietro, a little help here would be nice and highly appreciated," he said with a bit of annoyance. "And the house will thank you someday. But that won't exactly be possible if it say, burned down right about now!"

Pietro was paler than usual, and didn't seem to hear Lance's words. Instead, he was looking between Wanda and Magneto with a hard-to-read expression on his face. It was a mixture between a I'm-going-to-be-violently-sick to a ... genuinely terrified look.

"Wanda.." A turbulent storm was raging inside Pietro. How could he let Magneto take Wanda away again? And so soon after they'd finally connected that rapport again? He couldn't, and he wouldn't. Pietro bit his lip, but his mind was made up. He stepped forward.

"Leave Wanda out of it this time, Father."

For a split second, everything was silent. Suddenly, five pairs of eyes all riveted themselves on Pietro.

"*What* did you just say?" Magneto said coldly. "I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that."

Pietro took a deep breath, but remained standing up tall and calm. Inside, it was a totally different story. His heart was hammering against his rib cage at an insane speed. Going and living with Magneto again by himself was the last thing in creation that he wanted to do. It might as well be suicide. During his brief staying with Magneto before he'd ran away, it had been the second worst experience in his life, only behind *that* night. He'd been left alone in a dark house for hours, while Magneto was at who-knows-where, doing his "important stuff". The hours had stretched into days, the days into weeks, leaving the young boy to fend for himself. Pietro shuddered at the memory, dreading having to do it all over again. But he felt that he owed it to Wanda, that and so much more, to the twins' lost years.

"Pietro, what are you saying?" Wanda asked.

Snapping back to the present by her voice, Pietro held up his hand. "Enough's enough," he said quietly. "You can't have her, Father, cuz I won't let you."

"Foolish boy!" Magneto growled. "Her fate isn't in your hands Pietro. Even if you stop me today, you can't stop them from getting her."

Pietro blinked. "Them?" he asked, a bit of suspicion creeping into his voice. "Who the hell is them?" he demanded.

"The guards, who do you think?" Magneto snapped. "They're combing the city for Wanda."

"Liar!" Wanda shouted, lashing out blindly with her hexes. Gravity suddenly kicked in at full force around Magneto, and because his powers were still ineffective from Wanda's earlier hex, he plummeted to the ground. "Why should I believe you?" she spat vehemously. "You've spent my entire life tearing me down, instead of building me up like a father's supposed to. Humiliating me, instead of encouraging," Wanda glared down at him. "You took pleasure in hearing me cry. Never once did you do something to make me smile, laugh! Anything that's happy and normal for a child, you took it away from me!!"

"Let's go, Wanda," Magneto said, ignoring her speech.

"Wait." Pietro clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. *God this is gonna suck...* "Leave her alone. Take me instead."

The silence earlier compared nothing to this. The Brotherhood were all staring at him with their mouths open. Wanda gaped at him.

"WHAT?!" she hissed. "Pietro, are you insane?!"

"It's the only choice, Wanda!" Pietro snapped, staring at Magneto.

"No it isn't! The way I see it, the only choice would be to blow this jerk's head all the way to the next planet," Wanda muttered. "And *don't* count me out on doing it, FATHER," she spat the last word out as if it was poison. "It may very well be the last thing you ever do..."

Magneto stared at his son. This wasn't the Pietro he'd always known. Obviously, there was a stronger bond between the twins than Magneto had given them credit for. Under normal circumstances, which would be about any other time, Pietro would never think of sacrificing himself for somebody else. As far as Magneto knew, the arrogant mutant known as Quicksilver could care jack-ass about another person other than himself. *Obviously, this doesn't include Wanda. Drat the boy! Even after everything hurtful that I'm sure Wanda has said to him, he's still as close as ever to her. But after everything I've done for him, given him sanctuary and salvation, he hates me!* Well... if that's the way he wants it...

"Very well, Pietro," Magneto said. "Come with me."

"Pietro," Lance spoke up incredulously. "What are you doing?"

"I- I have to do this, Lance," the white haired teen muttered. He looked his sister straight in the eye, blazing azure ones meeting emerald green ones. "For you, Wanda," he said softly. Then, Pietro looked back at Magneto. "When do we leave sir?"

"Early tomorrow morning," Magneto said. "I will be here for you at 7 a.m. sharp. Be ready at the door then. Well, I have a certain business to attend to that needs my urgent attention. I'll be seeing you Pietro." With that, a nod, and a last cold look toward Wanda, Magneto turned on his heels and walked away.

"I- guess I gotta go pack up," Pietro muttered, before zipping away, leaving the rest of the Brotherhood standing stunned in the front yard.

"Well..." Todd gulped. "Tell me that what happened just now ain't what I thought just happened, yo."

"Looks like it.." Lance stared after Magneto's retreating form.

"Pietro..." Wanda whispered, staring at the spot where her brother had been just barely one second ago. A million thoughts flooded her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. *Why does these things always happen to me?!* she screamed internally. Magneto was gone, and because of her, Pietro would be gone by dawn. Separated. Again.

"When will it stop?!" Wanda shrieked. "I *hate* this stupid guilt cycle! I command you to stop! STOP!!"

"Wanda!" Lance tried to grab her.

"Make. It. Stop..." Wanda growled through clenched teeth.

"Make what stop?" Todd asked, trying to jump out of the way of falling debrees. "Ah!" He leapt out of the way just in time to avoid being clobbered by a fallen-off tree branch.

"This... could get bad." Lance cursed silently under his breath. "Wanda, just calm down!" The Scarlet Witch's hexes were going haywire, toppling trees, setting shrubs on fire, combusting the fire hydrant.....

"Hey man, I got her." Fred said, grabbing Wanda from behind. "Wanda, I've always thought you were an okay girl, just a little out of control at times, but-"

"Oh man!" Todd groaned. "Freddy, now's not exactly the time to be saying 'I love you' and all that, yo!" he yelped, dodging a tree trunk.

"I wasn't!" Fred retorted, turning redder than a fried lobster. "I was just-"

"You wanna see how 'out of control' I am?" Wanda snarled. "I'll show you how out of controlled I can get when I'm done with you, Tubby!" But before she got a chance to wave a highly hazardous hand in the air, a car door slammed.

"What the-???" It was Mystique, and she was back from one of Magneto's mandatory session meetings. Behind her, Agatha slowly made her way out of the car. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE YARD?!?!"

"Uhh..." Todd tried to come up with an excuse. "The... things from the dance... came... uh.. back? Heh heh..." he gave a nervous chuckle.

"Listen to me, you little imbecile!" Mystique glared at Todd, who cowered under her glower. "You three better listen up too!" she indicated Lance, Fred, and Wanda. "I just found out- wait a minute..." Mystique halted as she did a mental count. "Where is Pietro?"

There was a dead silence. Lance and Todd glanced uncomfortably at each other. Todd shuffled his feet, staring at the ground, but didn't say anything. Finally Lance spoke up.

"He's in his room packing."

"WHAT?!" Mystique screeched, staring at Lance. "Is this some sort of *game*, Avalanche?" she asked dangerously. "Because if it is..."

"It's not!" Lance replied back heatedly. "Magneto just stopped by. He was coming to get Wanda, but Pietro said that he'd go to save Wanda the expense of having to relive her past. Just basically sacrificed himself for her..." Lance closed his eyes. "Never thought he had it in him to do something like that..." he whispered.

"You never knew the Pietro that I knew," Wanda said softly. The others, including Mystique, gaped at her. There were two rivers of tears streaming silently down her face, but she didn't even bother to wipe them away. *Screw what he thinks about showing your innermost emotions!* Wanda thought. "I-" she bit her lip. "I'm sorry Fred, for snapping at you. It's just... the world corrupted Pietro, and Magneto was the world to him when we were little, and he corrupted him even worse than what the world could ever do to you." Wanda looked at the ground. "What it did to me."

Lance sighed. "Yeah, I know exactly how you mean. Hey, don't worry about it. Brotherhood stick together, right guys?"

"Yeah!" Todd said, hopping up and down. "We ain't gonna let no stinkin' anybody just take Speedy like that, yo! We're gonna fight for him! RIght Freddy?"

"Yeah, fight, heh heh!" Fred swung a massive fist in the air, nearly knocking Todd over. "Oops, sorry little buddy, didn't mean to do that."

"How charming," Mystique said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.