"He's really gone, yo..." Todd said in a small, stunned voice the next morning. The entire Brotherhood clan were in the kitchen. For once in his life, Fred didn't seem to notice breakfast on the table. He was staring blankly at the bowl of cereal in front of him slowly getting soggy. "He's really truly gone, yo, and I never even got to say goodbye!" Todd wailed. "I'll never see Speedy again, and-"

"Hey man, get a grip of yourself!" Lance tried to calm down the hysterical Todd. He himself was just as stunned as the rest of the group. Pietro... gone? Somehow, that image just wouldn't click in Lance's mind. *Pietro can't be gone. Not Pietro! He'll come whirlwinding in here any second now and raid the sugar jar. Or- or eat a bowl of Super Sugary Sugarbombs, chug a can of Jolt Cola, and complain about Todd and his smell or something. Anything.* Lance half-glanced at the stairs. He didn't know what he was looking for. Perhaps a near miracle or something. A tall skinny sixteen year old appearing at breakfast from seemingly out of nowhere on just a normal day. Anything to drive away the sick feeling that was slowly gnawing away at his guts. "Oh God.." Lance groaned, sinking down into a chair and putting his head in his hands. It was the first time he'd called on and petitioned God in a long time, maybe the first time in his life. If the situation hadn't been so dark right now, he would've found this to be amusing. Suddenly, Lance could feel two stunned eyes boring holes in his back. Turning around, he saw Wanda standing there by the kitchen doorway.

"He's.. really.. gone.. isn't.. he?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Todd couldn't take it anymore. Without another word, he got up and hopped up the stairs. They could hear the shower starting at full blast a second later, but it still couldn't block out the noise that sounded suspiciously like wailing that started from the bathroom then.

Fred nodded blankly to Wanda's question. "Yeah, he's really gone..."

Wanda clenched her fists. This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. Her numb mind wandered back to that last conversation she'd had with her brother the night before, and one thing stuck out in particular that Pietro had said.

~Wanda, if something should happen to me, not that I'm saying anything will, but *if* something does, tell the others salut for me, will ya? And tell Summers not to be such a prick. Whether he's actually capable of pulling something like that off, I seriously doubt it, but tell him for me. His reaction's priceless. And hey, listen Sis, lighten up on life a little, okay? My motto in life is you can sit around being bored and gloomy all day, or you can have a little fun and annoy some people, so why sit around?~

Pietro had said those words to her just last night, and now he was gone. *This isn't right!* Through her anger and frustration, Wanda started to power up. Things flew around the room, the TV turned on by itself and then short circuited, and cracks appeared on the walls. The windows spontaneously shattered one by one outwards.

Lance's already overly-stressed nerves finally snapped. "Wanda, calm down!" he hissed. "Jesus Christ, what are you trying to do? Kill us all?"

Wanda whirled on Lance, her dark eyes full of rage. "Just shut your trap, Lance!" she snapped. "You have no idea what you're talking about. It's just all talk, isn't it?" She glowered at the Brotherhood. "Why didn't you stop Jerk Face from taking Pietro? You didn't care about him at all, did you?"

"That's not true!" Lance growled. The ground started rumbling. "We cared about him too! We're a family, Wanda! We stick up for each other!"

"Well, *somebody* sure has a funny way of showing it!" Wanda snarled. "You want to take me on, Avalanche?" she asked dangerously. "You're a smart guy, Lance, but that's not one of your brighter ideas." Chaos energy danced on her fingertips. Her slender fingers forming arcane gestures, Wanda waved it around in the air. Without warning, a section of the floor caved in.

"WANDA!!" Mystique screamed, coming down the stairs just in time to see that.

"He started it!" Wanda snapped.

"That's enough! I don't care who started it! You're both going to end it!" Mystique glared at both of them. "We don't attack our own teammates!"

"Yeah, just like we didn't let Father take Pietro without a fight, right?" Wanda shot back vehemously. "Nobody deserves to go back and live with... *him*, even if they do deserve it! And least of all Pietro, because he doesn't deserve to!" She stared angrily at the Brotherhood. "You said we are a family, Lance?" she challenged. "Now's your chance to prove it!"

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but Mystique beat him to it.

"I know you want revenge more than anything else in the world, Wanda, and you shall have it. But we're not ready yet to fight Magneto! We need some more training."

"We don't have time for more training!" Wanda growled impatiently, the tone in her voice at that split second not unlike that of her brother's. "I'm ready..." The air around them crackled with pure chaos energy. "And I'm going. Whether you want to follow me or just sit on your sorry butts all day is your choice." She looked around at the others.

Hesitating, Lance and Fred both glanced nervously at Mystique.

"All right," Mystique said at last, after a very uncomfortable pause. "Wanda, if you're that insistant, fine. You may go ahead and try to find wherever Magneto's hideout is. Go round up Xavier's group-"

"Aw, man, not the X-dorks!" Fred complained. "Can't we leave those losers out of it? They'll just hog all the glory if we beat Magneto!" But he was silenced by a very heated stare from both Mystique and Wanda.

"No!" Mystique snapped. "We'll have to use them as playing pieces on the field if we want to have a chance at beating Magneto in the first place, Blob!"

"Okay, okay, it was just a suggestion..." Fred grumbled.

"Anyways.." Mystique growled, throwing another annoyed glare in Fred's direction. She was not in the best of moods. "Round up the Xmen with you, Wanda. We'll need everybody we can get. We'll catch up to you later. Don't get yourself killed."

Wanda smirked. "I'll manage." she said. Going up to her room, she packed all that she had in a bag. Exiting out, she paused briefly, hovering near Pietro's door. For the first time in ages, Wanda actually truly missed her brother. During her stay at the asylum, she had blocked all thoughts of him out of her mind, had played a cruel trick on her mind. She had managed to convince herself that she hated Pietro. *But I really don't! Is this your idea of a cruel game for punishing my hate by taking away my soulmate forever?!*

"God, why does my life have to be so screwed up?" Wanda whispered, to no-one in particular. Suddenly remembering where she was, she narrowed her dark eyes and stalked downstairs with her bag in tow.

"It's called life, Wanda." A very familiar masculine voice spoke up. Looking up, Wanda saw Lance standing by the kitchen door. "It's all around us, and there's no way around it or past it. Any of us would know, because we've lived the same life you've lived. Hell, I was moved from Orphanage Crappy, Crappier, through Crappiest in three years flat. Todd was booted out of his house when his parents found out that their kid was a mutant. Freddy doesn't even remember his parents." Lance's voice was soft, but embittered by an age quality well beyond his years. "Life's no picnic, Wanda, especially for us."

"Yeah, I know," Wanda muttered. "He's going to *pay* for this!" And with this, the young hex-casting Scarlet Witch stalked out the door without another backward glance.

"Oh that went well," Lance grumbled, staring at Wanda's retreating figure. He sighed, then returned to the kitchen. "Where's Tylenol when you need it?" he muttered. "I need some. A whole bottles' worth."

"Yeah, and now, Wanda's gone too. Guess it's just me, you, and the little guy, buddy, stuck with the Boss Lady and Grandma." Fred said grimly.

"Grandma?" Lance blinked up at Fred.

"Yeah, that freaky ancient lady that looks like she's at least a couple bajillion years old."

If Lance hadn't been so miserable, he would've laughed at this. Instead, he just gave a smirk, and then sighed. "Freddy, go check up on Toad, make sure he hasn't drowned himself or anything. The shower's been running pretty long."

"Okay." The big teen lumbered up the stairs and up toward the closed bathroom door. The wailing had stopped, so Fred took that as a good sign. "Hey Todd, you okay in there?" he asked in concern, banging on the door.

Todd came out, his eyes a puffy red color. "Yeah, I'm fine, yo," he sighed. "Can't believe Pietro's really gone though, yo..."

"Yeah... And so's Wanda."

Todd blinked. "Where'd Wanda go?"

"Gone to find Magneto."

"By herself?!" Todd yelped. "What, does she has some kind of sick death wish or something, yo? I mean, I know she's strong and all. She beat the Xgeeks tails pretty bad that one time, but she's not THAT strong to beat someone like Magneto!"

"I didn't say beat," Fred said nervously. "I said FIND. There is a difference."

"Not in that girl's dictionary, there isn't.." Todd said. "I mean, what are we supposed to do? Sit back, sip a piny colada (A/N: However the heck you spell it, lol :D), and watch the view, yo?"

"Actually, I think the Boss Lady said we're supposed to help her."

"WHAT?!" Todd yelped again, falling down the stairs. "Oww...."

Lance groaned. "We are going to need help," he muttered. "Big time."