Chapter Three
"My Name"
My name is Pietro Maximoff
My name is Quicksilver.
I am a good friend, dependable and loyal.
I am quick to please, quick to lose.
I know nothing and always depend on others to save me. I always forget to thank them.
I know all that goes on. No-one can catch me. I forget nothing.
My eyes are my heart. I look for what is in others the same that is in myself. I need the confidence that I am not alone.
My face is a mask. No one knows what I may be plotting next. I need no one and make sure that no one needs me.
I am...
I am...
Kurt was one of those enormously annoying people called "morning people," meaning that they are bright and chipper at 6 am when all the sane people should be still in bed. That also meant that Kurt had the television all to himself most mornings while he had a hearty breakfast of Cocoa Puffs in a mixing bowl. Aah, this is the life, he thought contentedly as he flopped down on the couch, careful not to spill the milk that was rapidly turning into a chocolate sludge. He aimed the remote towards the large, plasma TV and was just getting ready to begin his ritual morning cartoons, when Kitty stumbled in, yawning widely. Kurt blinked at her. "Kitty? Vhat's up? Why are you up so early?"
"I couldn't sleep," she said, yawning again as she joined him on the couch.
"How come?" Kurt asked, stirring his cereal vigorously.
"Gawd, Kurt! How can you, like, eat all that sugar so early in the morning?" Kitty looked disgusted.
"Ah, c'mon, Kitty! It's good for you! You know what they say; 'While apples are healthy and such, sugar is consumed much!'"
"Who says that?"
"I do!"
"It's, like, really stupid."
"Oh. I'll work on it then!" Kurt grinned as he deposited a spoonful of the cereal into his mouth. Kitty looked sick.
"Soph, Hskom cm urkr ump sogh egrlfrly?"
"Eew! Don't talk with your mouth full. That's, like, sooo gross!"
Kurt swallowed hurriedly, "Sorry. So, how come you're up so early?"
"I dunno. I guess I'm, like, worried, or something. I thought Pietro would be awake by now, you know?" The mood of the room shifted into one of worried silence.
"It's only been a couple of days and the Professor said that it could be a few weeks."
"I know! But Pietro's always been, you know, Mr. Speedy. You'd think with his body he'd be up and running already, like, literally!"
"Ja," Kurt said, staring down at the swirling mass of sugar and milk in his bowl. "I'm sure he'll be fine, Kitty. It's not like him to just give up, right?" Kurt hesitated. He didn't even fool himself with that last comment. It was at this time that they realized how much they didn't know about Pietro. Yet, they never got the opportunity to learn, now did they? ...Did Evan?
Silence wrapped the room in a cocoon of silk, fragile, yet lasting. Until, that is, Kurt leapt off the couch, pumping his hands in the air. "Yeah! That's it! We're going out, Kitty!" Kitty blanched, did he know how that sounded?
"W-what?"
"We've been stuck in this house all summer. I say it's time to get out an on the town! Maybe 'scope some parties,' ja?"
Kitty giggled, "Kurt, I really don't think there are, like, any parties at 7 am."
"Ya never know until you try!"
"Kurt..." Kitty was still smiling at the blue demon-elf. "Fine, let's wait until later then. We can, like, go to the mall!"
Kurt groaned, "Aw, man!"
In fact, they didn't leave until after lunch. In that time, they managed to acquire Rogue and Jean as well. Scott, noticing that Kurt seemed uncomfortable surrounded by all girls, said he'd join them as soon as he'd finished with the yard work. So, the merry troupe went to Bayville Mall to "scope some parties, ja?"
Todd remembered taking a class, once, which was weird in and of itself. It wasn't has if he never went to class, he went to school quite often in fact, before the whole X-men thing showed up. This class, however, has risen up in his memory like an air pocket in a swamp. It popped a few months ago, when they'd been having another fight. Lance had been furious at them, reasons unsaid. Yet, they all knew what it really was. The Brotherhood had been unable to pay for the electric bill that month, and the city was going to shut down their electricity until they could. Lance was blaming him and Fred for watching too much TV, and Pietro for never turning off lights in rooms he wasn't using. They would have found it funny, with Lance harping like a landlady, if it really was. It wasn't. Especially when the foundation was giving occasional trembles in reaction to Lance's temper. It had been during this time that he had remembered. There had been a guest lecture in his 20th Century Literature class. They were getting ready to read another book and the school's drug councilor came in to talk about family roles. Todd wasn't sure when it happened, but he'd started taking notes, his interest piqued. He couldn't help but fit the roles into his own family.
There were four traditional roles, the Family Hero, the Scapegoat/Victim, the Lost Child, and the Mascot/Clown. Lance was definitely the Family hero, the care-giver of the group. Somewhat bossy and controlling, but tried to bring worth to the family. Todd wasn't so sure about the last bit, until he saw Lance working forty-hour weeks and as well as the normal school day. Todd was the scapegoat. He realized that easily, to his surprise. He was the one to usually get blamed for everything. His peer group was his family, well, duh, it really was. His was loyal and a good judge of character, or so he liked to think. And, Todd knew this to be absolutely true, he provided for a distraction from the real problems. It was kind of strange, when he thought about it, to think of Fred as the Lost Child, the one who tried to blend in, to be invisible. Yet, he was. Fred tried to make up for his size by trying to make himself as unnoticed as possible, by rarely speaking, or pretending to be dumber than he really was. Fred wasn't stupid, just a little dense. Also, unlike the others, Fred didn't trust people at all. In the rare occasions that he did, he got insanely jealous easily. Pietro was obviously the last. He was the one who would break the tension through humor, had a quick wit, and was very popular because of it. He had tons of friends in every group, yet he was always "on stage," always expected to perform and be the comedian. The lecture made him see his family in a different light and respect them more because of it. They seemed more like real people now, and not just the fronts they show the world.
Wanda wasn't family to Todd, because he saw her as a potential girlfriend. It would kind of ruin the mood to think of her as a sister. She was hot! With her black and red-dyed hair and the way she strutted about the world, seeming to say "this is my turf, so watch it or I'll reduce your insides to a boiling mass of acid." She was dangerous and that excited Todd. He knew she could barely stand him, but he was patient. One day, maybe she'd see Todd as Todd and not the Toad.
The fight had escalated to Lance yelling at Wanda for causing so many electric surges when she was unable to control her power. She ignored him, but he kept ranting (Lance was in a very bad mood that night) until unexpectedly, Pietro snapped, telling Lance to lay off his sister. There was a moment of stunned silence. Then the house exploded. Wanda's powers blew out the bulbs in the entire house, furious at Pietro. Pietro had fled. They hadn't seen him since.
At first, Wanda was furious at Pietro for running away yet again. But, as days turned to weeks and weeks to months, she slowly began to get worried. Not that she showed it, of course. Todd could tell. The way she'd frown a little more when his name was mentioned, giving no hint at anger, gave him a clue.
The house was quiet. It was as if a huge elephant was sitting in the middle of the living room, yet no one seemed to want to point it out. Pietro's absence was beginning to worry all of them. Lance seemed more upset than any of them, probably thinking it was his fault. Wanda acted normal, but looked out the window too often. For some odd reason, Todd had been cracking the jokes lately, trying to fill the void that Pietro left. They all tip-toed around now, somehow knowing they were walking on unsteady ground and a careless comment would send them all to their deaths.
"I'm going to the mall," Wanda stated suddenly, drawing Todd out of his thoughts and into the present. They had been sitting quietly in their crash-site of a living room, none of them having anything to do but contemplate. Then, Wanda stood up, saying that odd statement as if talking to a wall. They all stared at her. "What?!" she demanded after a moment.
"Nothing, sweetie-pie, it's just, ya don't seem the type a girl to go to the mall, yo," Todd said, smiling nervously. Wanda had been on edge for the last month, leaving them all rather edgy.
"Tch. Whatever type of girl I am or not is none of your business, Toad."
Todd waved his hands innocently before Wanda's glare. "Right, right. Sorry, yo. How come? We ain't got no money ta spend."
"I'm not going shopping. I'm going to look for Pietro."
That caught all their attention. "What?" Lance sat up from his window-seat, frowning at her.
"Pietro's almost always at the mall. So, I'm going to find him and... kill him."
"Wanda..." Lance stopped. Then, began carefully. "If you find him, don't make him run off again." He turned and left the room.
"Alright, Wanda-honey!"
"Don't call me that!"
"I'll go with you! Two heads are better than one, yo!"
"No!"
"C'mon! Let's get goin'!" Todd began to pull her out of the house, laughing easily.
"TOAD!"
Kurt sighed and mussed his hair. He began straightening it out again, only to mess it up again in his boredom. The girls were in the dressing rooms with half the store between them. That meant he had a while to wait. Boring. They had been there for an hour already and Kurt was already bored out of his furry mind. Why couldn't they go to the arcade or the game shop, or something fun? But, no, the girls had to drag him to The Gap and make him sit while they discussed clothes. Even Rogue was enjoying herself! She had found a section of dark clothing that suited her taste and left Kurt alone. Where was Scott when he needed him?! Well, he thought trying to look on the bright side, at least they hadn't decided to start dressing me up, yet. Adding the "yet" didn't make him feel any better.
Movement caught his eye, and Kurt looked around to find... Wanda?! standing in the center of the mall. Kurt stared. What was she doing here? It didn't look like she was shopping. A flash of green alerted him to the Toad hopping from store front to store front. They weren't trying to steal anything, were they? No, it looked more like they were searching for something. Before he realized what he was doing, Kurt found himself walking up to Wanda. By the time he found himself heading towards her, she spotted him. Not wanting to back-out now, Kurt took a deep breath and stepped up to her. "Wanda? Haa, whatcha doing here?" he asked, running a nervous hand along the back of his head. Wanda glared at him, before turning her burning gaze to scorch all within reach. "I'm looking for that idiot Pietro, if you must know," she said finally.
"Pietro?! H-how come?"
"That's none of your business, Fuzz-ball."
That stung. "Fuzz-ball?! Tch, I am not a fuzz-ball! I am the Furry One!"
Wanda looked at him as if he were insane.
"Pietro's been missin' for about three months, yo."
"TOAD!"
"Whaat? It's not like he's gonna leave us alone until we tell, yo!" Toad said defensively.
Kurt stared. "Three months?"
"What's it to ya?" Toad glared at him, grinning oddly. Kurt laughed, wondering if he should say anything.
"N-no reason."
Wanda looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "You haven't seen him, have you?"
"M-me? No, of course not! Hahaa..." Kurt cursed himself at his terrible lying.
"Hm." Wanda continued to watch him.
Kurt nodded jerkily. "Right! Okay! Good luck. I'll see you around, ja?" he said, moving away quickly. They let him go, staring after him as if he were an idiot.
When he was finally out of their sight, he slapped of hand over his eyes and groaned. "Good going, Kurt," he murmured to himself.
"What did you do, now?" asked a curious voice behind him. It was Scott, smiling in his mildly amused expression. Kurt brightened up. "Hey! Thank God you came! I've been so bored! The girls found a clothing store and remembered that they still had Christmas money..." he let the end of the sentence hang in horror. Scott laughed.
"I also saw Wanda and Toad..." Kurt continued, dropping his voice slightly. Scott frowned behind his shades.
"What happened?"
"They were looking for Pietro... says he's been missing for the last three months."
Scott's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You didn't tell them, did you?"
Kurt shook his head. "No, I wasn't sure that'd be a good idea right now."
"Yeah. I think we should talk to the Professor and see what he thinks."
Kurt suddenly looked hopeful. "You mean, we can go?!"
"Sure, why not? The girls have money for a cab, right?" Scott said, laughing. Kurt cheered.
They arrived back at the Manor about twenty minutes later to find the younger students playing dodgeball without their powers. Well, supposedly without their powers. The game quickly turned violent and the two X-men hurried indoors for protection as fire and rubble rained down. Logan watched them hurry past as he snared an apple with his metal claws.
"Professor?!" Scott called, unsure of where to look for the bald man. I'm in the medical room, came the mental reply. A quick nod showed that Kurt heard him too, and they headed for the elevator. They found Xavier a few minutes later talking with Hank outside the medical room's door. As they approached, Xavier nodded gravely and turned to face them. "Ah, Scott, Kurt. What's wrong?"
"We saw the brotherhood at the mall looking for Pietro!" Kurt blurted out.
Xavier looked startled. "You did?"
"They said he'd been missing for three months, Professor," Scott added calmly. Xavier was silent for a moment, considering. Kurt's eyes flickered from him to the door behind which Pietro was still unconscious. "How's he doing?"
Xavier shot him a look, hesitating. "Poorly," he said finally. "Apparently, his heartbeat and respiration have dropped considerably in the last twenty-four hours."
Kurt's heart dropped.
"Is he going to die?" Scott asked.
"I don't know." Xavier seemed to be considering something, then nodded to himself. "Yes, I think we should. Kurt, I want you and Jean to pay a visit to the Brotherhood this evening."
Their eyes' bugged, "What?!"
"I believe it would be a good idea to inform them of Pietro's condition."
"A-are you sure, Professor X?" Scott said, stunned. Xavier thought about it and nodded. "I would suggest telling Wanda first, as she is his sister."
"SHE IS?!"
"Excuse me, but could you keep it quieter?" Hank asked, nodding towards the door. They looked embarrassed.
Xavier nodded to Kurt's shocked question. "They're twins, actually, but not on very good terms. I would be careful, if I were you."
"Of course."
"Why Jean?" Scott asked, seeming rather hurt that he was being left out.
Xavier smiled, "They don't really see you as a very nice person, Scott. If you were to show up, then they might feel threatened and attack. We don't want that."
"No, you're right," Scott agreed reluctantly.
"Good! Now, where are the girls? They went with you, didn't they?"
Kurt and Scott shot each other panicked looks.
That evening, Jean and Kurt stood in front of the Brotherhood's door, staring up and the two-story house. It looked like it was one of those abandoned, haunted houses, with it's cracked frame and tattered roof. In fact, it looked like it was one timber away from collapse. Jean took a deep breath and knocked, trying not to wince as cobwebs and mortar rained down at the sudden vibration. There was silence from indoors for a moment. The door wrenched open, revealing Lance wearing a scowl fit to send tax-collectors onto a seizure. Jean took a step back then smiled innocently. Lance's scowl turned, if possible, even fiercer at the sight of them. "What the hell do you want?!"
Jean, ignoring the rude tone, said calmly, "We would like to speak with Wanda, please." The door shut in her face. They heard Lance's bellow of "Wanda! Get your ass to the door!" through the wood, as well as Wanda's answering, "Whoever it is, tell them to screw off!" The door opened to a smirking Lance who said, "Screw. Off," before slamming it closed again.
Kurt coughed, trying not to laugh at Jean's affronted expression. "Well!" she huffed, and knocked firmly on the door again. This time, the door opened to reveal Toad, who was chewing on a stick of beef-jerky. His eyes widened at the sight of them and let out a small squeak, slamming the door shut in their faces. Jean scowled and Kurt began to choke in his effort not to laugh. She knocked again and quickly wedged her foot into the space provided when the door opened for the fourth time. It was Wanda. She gave them such a look that they were afraid that their hair would spontaneously combust under the heat of her stare.
"WHAT?" she hissed.
"It's about Pietro," Jean said hurriedly. All sound indoors ceased. The door opened wider to reveal the whole Brotherhood, staring at them. Jean took a deep breath. "We know where he is."
A mouse could be heard scuttling across the living room in the silence that followed.
"Wanda, he's at the Institute."
"WHAT?!" shrieked the Brotherhood. Jean winced and Kurt stepped forward hurredly. "Let us explain! You see, on the last day of school, Kitty and I found him in an alley..." he paused, unsure how to put it.
"He was bleeding to death," Jean said. The silence was tense, the air almost crackling with the withheld questions.
"I-is he okay?" Toad asked softly.
Jean shook her head. "We've got him under intensive care at the Institute, but he won't wake up. The Professor-"
"Screw your fucking Professor! Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Lance hissed, the ground trembling.
Jean shot him an uncompassionate look, "We don't know what happened to him." The silent accusation hung in the air.
"How dare you," Wanda whispered, objects not nailed down levitating behind her. "How dare you accuse us of such a thing! I'm surprised you didn't leave him there to rot!"
"We aren't cruel!"
"But we are, is that it!?"
"I didn't say that!"
"YOU FUCKING IMPLIED IT!"
"LISTEN!" Kurt shouted to be heard over the sound of the lightening crackling around Wanda. "Pietro's in critical condition! He could die tonight if his breathing keeps dropping! I really don't think this is the time to fight!" Realizing he had the floor, Kurt sighed. "Vanda, you and the others are invited to visit him, as long as you think you can not fight with us there. C'mon, Jean." He turned and walked down the path back to the car in which Scott was waiting. Jean followed him calmly, as if nothing had happened, while the Brotherhood watched them leave in stunned silence.
TBC...!