Hey all, I decided to post a small chapter a bit early but I will still be updating on Wednesday. For those of you who didn't notice the author's note a little but ago, I will be updating once a week on Wednesday. Thanks everything guys but don't forget to review. It really means a lot to me that people are still out there.
Review Responses
Bookcraze1553- I'm glad that you are so enthusiastic about the story. I am flattered that you want to read my story so much but just be patient. I know what waiting for a chapter of a story can be like and it is maddening.
Motogal811- I'm glad you love it so far and I hope you continue to love it.
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution.
Chapter 8
Corina discovered what locker belonged to Wanda and quietly slipped a note into it. She had waited until the halls cleared and she saw no one lingering. She silently walked past the locker and slipped the note in as she casually walked by. It explained to her young student to meet her at a certain gym and to go into the last room at the end of the hallway. Corina reminded her that she must be quiet and not tell anyone about this. If anyone did ask, she was to tell them that she was just going to the gym. Corina told Wanda to be there by 7 and that they would leave by 9.
Corina entered the gym that night around 6:30 and went up to the front desk to greet her friend. "Hey, Trista, what's up?"
Trista turned around from the computer and looked up at her friend. She was a year older that Corina with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. While she was not of Corina's coven, she had some magical blood and knew of Corina's secret. They had graduated from the same high school and continued to be good friends. Their mothers had been close when they were young so they had always been around each other. When Corina went off to university, Trista stayed behind in Bayville and opened up her own fitness center, which had been successful.
"Hey Corina, I haven't seen you in ages. I set up the gym in the back and I made it seem that there is a meditation and yoga class going on so as not to raise suspicion. Don't worry, I know how to cover you." Trista said with a small wink.
"Thanks, you don't know how much this means to me. How's your mom and your family doing?"
"Everyone is well. How about Pearl?" She replied with a smile on her face.
"Great, she is doing well and she sends her love. I have to go get ready for my student so I'll catch you after class. We should get coffee sometime or something really soon."
"That sounds great. Ok, locker rooms are on the right and the gym is at the end of the hallway door C. Have fun."
"Thanks," the young woman called down the hall as she headed to the locker room.
After she changed into a pair of gray pants and black shirt, Corina headed to the gym room and transformed. She locked the door as a precaution and waited for Wanda to knock on the door. After a few minutes, Corina heard the knock and waited to hear Wanda's voice before she unlocked the door. The girl entered and seemed prepared for the class.
"Wanda, it is nice to see you again. How are you doing? It has been awhile since we were able to see each other"
"I'm living. The boys are…aggravating but they know to stay away. I heard about your little heroic action last night. You must have really pissed them off. Pietro wasn't there but he has going on about how annoyed the others were. He kept complaing that there is just no living with Pyro when he doesn't have his power. It was amusing to know they were irritated. It seems that you are making quite an enemy." The girl's face changed from the amused expression to a serious look of concern in her eyes.
"Yes," Kitsu stated with a smirk "but they will just have to get over it." She said trying desperately to calm the girls fear.
"How did you know about the attack? None of the other boys knew about it."
"Let's just say that a little bird told me. I have duty to protect and she helps me with that duty." Slight disappointment and sadness crossed Wanda's face that Kitsu would not tell her the secret.
"Fine," she stated with a clipped tone.
Kitsu sighed and frowned slightly that she couldn't tell the girl. "Come on, we better start. Today we are going to work on your anger and attempt to release some of that hatred."
"Fine, let's do that." Wanda was obviously upset that Kitsu didn't trust her and was in no mood to discuss her emotions.
Kitsu sighed and put a hand on her students' shoulder. 'I really have not told her anything about my past or who I really am. All that she knows is that I'm a friend of Agatha. She is putting her trust in a complete stranger. I have to help her somehow.'
Kitsu removed her hand and sighed. She was upset that she could not tell her student but it was for her own good. "I know that you want to know but I can't take any risks. It's not that I don't trust you; I just don't trust others out there. Here, how about I'll let you in on a little bit about my past so you can know something about me." Wanda nodded and agreed to plan. She was desperate to know something about her trainer.
.
"Well, let's see. How about this story?" Kitsu again idly played with her silver earring cuff and nervously chewed her lip as she wondered how she was going to tell Wanda something about herself. She had never been open with other about her past and this was a rare occurrence.
"Not so easy is it? To talk about yourself to another person." Wanda just looked at her teacher with her normal expressionless face but with a hint of amusement in her eyes. Kitsu raised an eyebrow and sighed in defeat that the young girl had efficiently made.
"Point taken but you still have to listen to my story. You see this earring? It was my father's. It didn't used to be an earring but just a plain silver ring that he wore on his right hand. I had it made into this earring and I wear to remind me of him. He died when I was younger. He is actually where I get my mutant blood from for he was also blessed with a mutant ability. He had a strange ability to speak telepathically with animals that weren't human and he was an empath. He always said that it was different speaking to animals. He used to say that he wasn't speaking to them like you would to a human but that speaking to an animal was more like having to cast emotions through the telepathic connection instead of using words. He was a naturally caring sole and loved this world. I think it had to do with feeling others emotions but I think that he was also just born that way. He used his ability to help animals and become, obviously enough, an amazing veterinarian. He was good at his job and loved it. I still miss him but I know he is happy with my mom and that gives me comfort." Kitsu seemed to fade into the memories of her past before she heard a quite voice speak.
"What happened to your parents?" Wanda asked quietly as if she was trying to not wake Kitsu from her daydream of the past for fear that she might not continue.
"Their life was taken from them by a powerful creature. My mother tried to stop it and my father tired to protect her but that monster was able to destroy them. They really did try to destroy the beast but had no luck. I was the first one that he attacked and he left me with these," Corina slowly raised the side of her shirt to reveal three huge claw marks that traveled from the left side of her stomach across her hip until it ended about five inches from her spine. "They defended me and my mom able to mortally wound him before she joined my father in her sleep. I was just lucky to live and I, after a long time, stopped blaming myself for their deaths. I was so angry after they died. I kept thinking that they had left me and that is my fault they had died. Luckily, my grandmother was there for me and she was able to show me that I was not responsible for their deaths and that no one was angry at me for the attack. I know my parents are happy and that they are always near me. I know it sounds childish to think so but I know it has to be true."
"You were lucky that your parents loved you so much. They wanted to protect you. I wish I could have had that but I was not so lucky." Wanda seemed to join Kitsu in her daydream of visions of the past as she listened to the story.
"What about your mother Wanda? Did you ever know her?"
"Yes and no. I know she took me and my brother and tried to hide us from father," the words seemed to burn with acid as she used that title. "She gave us to a couple she knew before she ran even further away. I assume that she died trying to escape and hoped we would be safe from him. Unfortunately, he found Pietro and me with them when we were about five and took us with him claiming his paternal right. However, Pietro and I decided to keep our adoptive parents last name instead of taking his. It wasn't as if father cared. We used to be close, Pietro and me, but after everything happened, I can never trust him again. I was angry at our father and I hated him from taking us away from our real parents. He may be in my blood but he is certainly not my father." Wanda seemed to awaken from her thoughts as she began to think about her 'father.'
"Do you remember anything about your mother…your birth mother?"
"No, not much. I think her name was Magda. He never talked about her much. I think that he used to feel something for her but she ran from him once she saw what he had become…bitter and angry. She was some kind of gypsy or something like that before she married him. That was the little I was ever told about her. I don't even know what she looked like."
Kitsu hesitated before she continued. "Wanda, why do you not trust your brother? Wasn't he a child when you were taken away?"
"Yes, we were ten when I was abandoned. He just stood there and did nothing as I was pulled away screaming. He just turned his head and left me there. He didn't cry out or try to stop it, he just stood there." Wanda began to clench her fist as she tried to control her anger.
"Come on, Wanda, it will be ok. Settle child and be calm. Try to talk about it but work beyond your anger to tell the story." Wanda breaths became steadier as she gained control.
"Your right. I was angry then about him not being able to do anything. He couldn't have when he was younger but he never came back for me. He could have gotten me out when he had gotten his power or even before that. Why didn't he come for me? He just left me."
"Wanda, I can't say that I understand what has happened to you. I have had pain in my life but it was from different circumstances but I don't think you should be angry with your brother. He was a little boy when that happened and I'm sure the experience affected him as well."
"Kitsu, what are you saying? He has no point of view. He has always been like him and always will be. He will never change and he just left me there and hoped to never see me again." Things began to shake a little as Wanda became angry.
"Wanda, stop that and gain some control. You have to trust me about this. Believe me when I tell you that you must understand what I'm saying. Just calm down for a minute." Things settled before Kitsu cleared her throat and began again. "Did you ever talk to him about what happened to him in those eight years when you were separated? We know that he was left in New York City for awhile before he came to Bayville but do you know why? I know it hard to see another's point of view, especially after feeling like they betrayed you, but he might have a reason…possibly an influence from your father? "
Wanda froze as she absorbed her words and just stared into space as she processed her words. "Kitsu, you and Agatha are the only ones that have ever cared about enough to even help me slightly in this life. I trust your opinion and maybe your right but how can I trust him again?"
"Trust will come with time and maturity. Hopefully your brother will be able to grow beyond his cocky front and, actually, be himself. Just think, do you ever remember a specific time that you felt trusting toward him?"
"Yeah, I remember one time. We had been at school and some older kid kept bothering me. He just wouldn't go away and I became really angry at him. However, as I turned around to push him and tell him to leave me alone, Pietro stepped between us. He began to tell the kid to leave me alone and pushed the kid. The bully fell backward and ran away. He turned to me and asked if I was ok. He was actually concerned for me and wanted to protect me. For those five years after we were taken from our adoptive parents, we were all we had. I guess, when he was gone, I resented him for not protecting me. I guess I shouldn't be so angry at him after all."
"Wanda, do you understand what you have just accomplished by admitting that?"
"No, what?" Her student's face was laced with confusion and happiness at the same time.
"You've loosened my spell. My spell contains your anger but you still know it exists. By admitting that to yourself that your anger toward your brother is a nonentity, you released some of your anger and the control of the spell. Congratulations. Now, next time, we will have to focus on your greater anger toward your father, which may take a little longer."
"I understand and thank you Kitsu. Oh, look at the time; I have to get back to the house. I told them that I would be back by nine and it is nearly that time now." The young girl gathered her stuff and with a slight and rare smile on her face, she left the private back gym.
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Just in case if anyone was wondering, I got the information about the twin's mother and adoptive parents from the comic book. I had to twist it to make sense and fit in with the timeline and all. Hope you enjoyed it. PLEASE, Review. Thanks.