Okay SOOOO SORRY once again for making you guys wait, like, a year for this. I hope it was worth it (I doubt it, but you know). But now I'm back with another chap! So! Without any ado whatsoever, here it is; CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE!!!
Disclaimer: What's the matter, Colonel Sanderz? CHICKEN??
Meanwhile, back at the Brotherhood House
.........."Pietro, will you STOP racing around like a maniac?!" Lance shivered from underneath his wool blanket as the blur of color known as Quicksilver made yet another lap around the house. Both Lance and Fred were bundled up on the couch, trying to conserve what little warmth they had. Pietro's quick bursts of cold wind were not helping matters any.
"I can't help it," whined Pietro, finally slowing to a halt in front of the boys. "I can't stand being trapped in here; there's no room to move around!"
Freddie sighed. Being trapped in their broken down house was one thing. Being trapped with Pietro was another.
"If you really wanted to, you could just shovel the town," he pointed out. "Then you could run anywhere you wanted."
"Puh!" The albino mutant scoffed, "You expect ME to do all of that work? Whom do you take me for?"
"Well, could you at least stop racing around like a maniac? It's cold enough in here without your help," Lance spat, covering himself with more blankets.
"Whose fault is that?" Pietro questioned, glaring at the rock-tumbler. "If someone had paid the heating bill on time, we wouldn't be stuck here freezing our butts off in the middle of the snowstorm of the century!"
Fred rolled his eyes. "This is boring. I wish there were something else to be doing instead of listening to the two of you fight."
"YEOW!!"
Crash
The three mutants turned as Todd came tumbling down the stairs, quickly followed by a blue hex bolt that sent him reeling into the opposite wall.
Lance sighed. "I'll get him," he offered, regretfully moving from his warm spot on the couch to pull Todd out of the wall. Said frog-boy landed non-to gracefully on the floor.
"Thanks, yo," he muttered, rubbing his wounds.
"What was it this time?" asked Fred, desperate for any sort of distraction from the lack of heat.
"I jus' don't understand her," began Todd, standing up to face Freddie in the living room. "All I did was offer to be her human blanket and keep her warm. Next thing I know, I'm a human cannonball."
Pietro sighed. Ever since his witch of a sister, Wanda, had come to join their little group, Todd had been smitten. Although the idea of the Toad and his sister creeped him out, Pietro took some resolve in the fact that the guy obviously had no idea what he was doing.
"Maybe if you stopped with all of the pathetic nicknames," suggested Lance, only half-interested as he reclaimed his spot on the couch, "She wouldn't throw you down the stairs so often."
"What's wrong with my nicknames?"
The group sighed. It was going to be a long night.......
Wanda breathed out hard, briefly amusing herself with the puff of air visible in the cold room. She glanced around her bedroom for more candles to light, spotting another one at the foot of her bed. She realised that the candles weren't much help in warming up her frostbitten room, but it couldn't hurt either.
Bored, she pulled the blankets from her bed closer to herself and tried to concentrate on something other than the cold. Downstairs she could hear the others talking, no doubt discussing the Toad's latest flight down the stairs. She smiled to herself at the thought of him pancaked against the wall.
'Serves him right, the little monster," she reasoned. After all, she had punished him before for less.
Ever since her arrival at this shabby excuse for a house, Wanda had mainly kept to herself, excluding the occasional outburst directed at whichever boy was foolish enough to bother her. So far, Freddie had proved to be the smartest of the four; leaving her alone unless absolutely necessary. Lance was also a member of the "Give Wanda Her Space Club", although he was one of the few she could actually stand to talk to.
Her brother, on the other hand was always hanging around her. He was afraid of her, and rightfully so, but she could see in his eyes that he wanted something. She had seen that look in her own eyes, right after she was sent to the asylum. Quicksilver, the poor fool, still clung to his belief that they could be one big happy family. What a moron.
Her other big nuisance was, of course, the pile of vomit known as the Toad. He was constantly following her and calling her those putrid names. Who in their right mind says 'cuddlebumps' anyways? And on top of that, he smelled like something that crawled out of a trash bin and died.
Overall, however, Wanda wasn't sad to be here. Sure, it was annoying to live with four boys, but it sure beat the asylum. Besides, all of the boys had dealt with girl roommates before, so it wasn't too weird of a transition. Being the only girl did make things kind of lonely, but Wanda had convinced herself that if there had been another girl, she would not have been friends with her anyways.
Wanda sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time and turned her gaze toward her window. While some people held grudges against snowy days like this, Wanda did not. For as long as she could remember she had loved winter. She could picture herself the perfect image of a five year old, bundled up in layers of sweaters, and begging Pietro to go ice-skating with her. She had always loved skating down at the pond on days like this, but Pietro wasn't as fond of skating or snow.
She allowed herself a small smile at the memory when she heard a knock at her door. Figuring it was the Toad, back for more torture, she primed a hex bolt.
"Toad, if that's you, you're dead!" she yelled, her voice radiating danger.
"It's me," rushed Lance, easing the door open a crack so he could show it wasn't a trick. With Wanda you could never be too careful.
Wanda's eyes narrowed. "What do you want?" she asked coldly, not releasing the hex bolt that her hand encompassed.
"I just wanted to tell you that if you want dinner, you'd better get down there fast. There's hardly any left over from yesterday and Fred's already called dibs on your share." Lance immediately retreated, having said his piece.
Standing up, Wanda wrapped her blankets even tighter and followed the senior downstairs. Glancing into the living room, she noticed that the other boys were huddled together on the couch, watching TV. Lance immediately joined them.
"I still don't believe this is the only thing on," Pietro complained. Fred had snagged the remote and they were all currently watching some anime cartoon called 'Inuyasha'.
"Well it is, so stop whining," ordered Fred, burying himself further in the mountain of blankets that were his warmth.
Todd, who had been silently pondering to himself while watching the hero dog-demon jump across the screen suddenly chose this moment to speak up.
"Have you guys noticed that this Inuyasha guy sounds a lot like Pietro?"
Pietro's eyebrow immediately snapped together in anger. "WHAT?!" He cried, crossing his arms and legs. "Feh. He does not. I'm way better sounding than that Inuyasha creep." He turned his head away in disgust.
This, of course, triggered an argument about the similarities between the two. Wanda, who had not moved from her position in the doorway, rolled her eyes in disgust. Boys were such idiots sometimes.
Turning away from the fight, she decided she had better eat her dinner before someone else ate it for her.
Well, that's chapter twenty-three. Again, sorry for the lack of updates. I don't know why my writer's block is plaguing me so. It took forever to finish this chap and I feel like I'm right back where I started. If anyone does, for some reason, read this chapter, please REVIEW!! I am desperate for ideas. Or rather how to obtain the things I want from this story. I know how I want it to end, and some of the things that should happen. I just don't' know HOW! Grrrrr!
For those who care, the Inuyasha thing is referring to the fact that both Pietro and Inuyasha are voiced by the same person; Richard Ian Cox. I found that amusing since both characters are albino-ish, super fast, and arrogant. The pose and "feh" that Pietro does are imitations of Inuyasha. I doubt anyone else watches that but me, but I thought I'd write it in for fun.
Ja Ne!
August 31, 2004