~*~Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. I hope you like this next chapter, and if you don't, don't be afraid to tell me so :) ~*~

Chapter 3

"You never said anything about having a sister, man. Well, I guess you really haven't told us much about yourself period, but I thought you would have told us about having a twin." Lance passed Pietro the glass of water Fred had brought upstairs to his room for him.

The speedster, though free of his stupor, was still rather shaken at seeing his twin sister and having her try to kill him. The house still shook ever so often with no assistance from Lance.

"I....I never thought I'd see her again. Why mention her?" Pietro said, sipping the water slowly. He pressed the cool glass against his forehead and sighed.

"Why did you think that?" Fred asked taking a seat on the floor. He didn't like Pietro's room; it was too clean and he always felt he would mess something up.

"Because..." He stopped, putting down the glass and then resting his head on his knees, "Dumnezeu... It's all his fault."

"Dum-ne-zeu? Who's that, yo? Evil foster parent?" Todd pressed. Pietro had spoken the name with the same accent he used when he introduced himself for the first time to people.

"It means 'God,' in Romanian," Pietro explained in a dull voice.

"You know Romanian?" Fred asked.

"I was born in Transia, in the Balkan Mountains."

"Where's that at, yo?" Todd wasn't too good with geography. He could name and point out the 50 states of the US and the boot of Italy, but that was about it.

"It's a little European country right next to Romania and Transylvania. Wanda and I are part of the Sinte-Romany tribe that populates some of that area. I speak Sinte too."

"Sinte-Romany?"

"Gypsies, Lance; Roma, if you want to be politically correct. The last name Maximoff comes from the people who raised Wanda and I for a while."

"Did you ever know your parents?" Lance asked.

"Our mama died giving birth to us, our tata, well you know him too now, but we didn't meet him until later."

"'Tata'...that's gotta mean 'dad' right?"

"Yeah."

"I am so smart," Lance patted himself on the back. "So...how does this lead to you and Wanda being separated and to her wanting to blow you up?"

"The Maximoffs and the rest of our caravan got lynched, only Wanda and me got away. That was the first time my powers manifested; I got me and Wanda away from there, and we wandered on our own for a bit until our real tata found us. He saved us really. Wanda's powers emerged, and as you can see from the show downstairs, things get pretty wild. The people in the village we were in were gonna burn her for being a vrajitoare, a witch, and he intervened. Then he brought us here, the Promise Land, the Melting Pot," he kept his head down, but they could visualize him rolling his eyes. "He was never...kind... and it was obvious from the start he was only interested in what we could do for him, especially Wanda. But she couldn't control her powers, and she was dangerous. She was so angry at what happened to Mama and Tata Maximoff, and then in the village, and then at him for being so... harsh, and her powers are motivated by her emotions. Finally he got tired of dealing with her, and one day he put us both in the car and took us for a ride. We thought he was actually gonna take us somewhere fun for a change, but no. He took us to this big white building, and these men in white coats came out and grabbed Wanda. She screamed and cried, and they took her inside the building, and I never saw her again, until today."

"And what happened to you after that? You and your father must have parted ways for you to end up in New York in foster care and then with us after being recruited by Magneto. You know I always felt a little cheated; Magneto came for you in person while the rest of us got his little messenger, Mystique. Why is that? He seems to trust you more than us. He gave you the cell phone, gives you our orders that override Mystique's, and..." Lance broke off, staring at Pietro and his silvery hair. He touched the boy's back gently, getting him to look up at him. Lance tilted his head to one side as Todd and Fred exchanged confused glances. "Pietro, I know this is gonna be out there, especially if I'm not right, but... Is Magneto your father?"

Todd choked on his tongue and Fred's eyes widened; they stared at Pietro for his answer.

Pietro sighed, "Yeah, yeah, old Mags is my sperm donor, and to answer the rest of your question, I wasn't an easy child to deal with, too hyper. I required too much attention. He sent me away. I didn't see him again until a few months ago when he recruited me to join his cause. Sprung me out of jail and everything, made me feel really special, even let me know he'd been keeping an eye on me."

"The big boss is your old man?" Todd exploded. "Pietro, you're the boss's son! No wonder Mystique never yelled at you, and you never had to go on the stupider missions she sent us on! Hell, your place on Asteroid M was a given!"

Pietro shuddered as he thought about that incident in his life, "It wasn't a given. If I didn't win my duel, I would have been left behind the same as you. I always have to prove myself to him. He knows I'm smart and that he can trust me, but when it comes to powers, he's always so disappointed in me. Super-speed just isn't good enough for him. If he could have gotten Wanda to obey him, she'd have been there instead of me, but Wanda was too strong. She would fight him and hurt him."

"So how did he keep her from just knocking him out of the way and doing as she pleased?" Lance frowned. "She should have been able to take him with those powers. What was her weakness?"

Pietro was quiet as he hugged his knees and lowered his head again. "Me."

"You? But how? No one can touch you; you're too fast."

"I couldn't control it like I can now, and I was always so scared of everything. I was too small, too slight, and easy to break. She wouldn't fight him if he threatened me."

"But he never actually hurt you, right yo? I mean, Magneto just seems too suave for that kinda stuff."

Pietro shot a glare at Todd, "I learned never to scream and never to cry."

"Shit," Lance breathed, "and Wanda's pissed at you now, because..."

"I didn't help her when she was being taken away. I just stood there with him and watched," Pietro sighed. "But what could I do? I don't have flashy powers like hers or yours Lance. I couldn't even make it happen at will yet. Everything didn't start speeding up for me permanently until a few years later, after he ditched me."

"She can't be mad at you for that," Lance blinked. "That's stupid. You were how old?"

"Seven almost eight."

"She'll get over it then, Pi."

"Who knows what they did to her in that place? Maybe she's crazy, maybe she'll always hate me... I'd hate me. She always protected me, and the one chance I had to do something for her, I just...stood there."

"The only person anyone should be mad at is Magneto," Fred said evenly. "He took her there. It wasn't your choice; you didn't know about it. So what you didn't fight him. He's bigger than you. If you could do what she did down there, then she'd have cause to be mad at you for doing nothing, but you can't."

"Dumnezeu."

"Um, so are you gonna start having lapses into Romanian all the time now that your sister's here?" Todd questioned. He couldn't understand Pietro half the time when he spoke English, if he started speaking a foreign language in hyper-speech Todd was going to give up on communicating with him all together.

"I don't know," Pietro muttered. "Look, I'm tired. I appreciate you guys coming in here and making sure I'm ok and all, but I wanna sleep."

"Yeah ok.." Fred began, but Lance cut him off.

"Is there something wrong Pietro? It's only 8:40. You went to bed at 8; last night, it was 9."

"Why is everyone bothering me about this? I'm fine," Pietro growled. "Out! Când! A se pripi!"

"Geez, I think that meant 'andale, arriba,' yo," Todd chuckled; he glanced at Pietro's vexed expression and decided he was right.

"What if Wanda comes up here? Maybe one of us should sleep in here with you; at least until we're sure she's calmed down," Lance said. "I'll be back in a minute with my pillow and stuff. I hope you don't snore."

"What? No! You can't..."

"You won't even know I'm here. I was going to sleep too, before the surprise party downstairs."

"Well if you're asleep won't that defeat the purpose of you standing guard?"

Lance blinked, then caught himself. "If she comes there will be two of us to deal with her, since you seem to freeze in her presence."

"Khul..."

"That was a cuss word," Todd volunteered.

"YOU better not snore!" Pietro snapped, punching his pillow and crawling under his blankets.

Lance, Todd, and Fred quietly left the room, closing the door behind them. "Todd, Fred..."

"Homework," Todd announced, heading to his room, then stopped. "Lance, the teacher conference thing.... should I give Mystique that note now, or wait til morning."

The foundation of the house rocked again, and the startled look from Lance let them know it hadn't been him. "No," Lance shook his head. "She's got enough on her mind tonight. She may be a little friendlier in the morning."

"Hopefully Wanda will be too," Fred commented. "I don't know if I'll feel like blocking floating furniture again in the morning."

They stared at each other.

"Homework," Todd announced again disappearing into his room.

"The Gray Ghost is on," Fred said with a shrug.

"Night then," Lance said. He slipped into his room to grab his pillow and blanket. The light was off in Pietro's room, but the floor was so clean Lance didn't have to worry about stepping on anything, or knocking anything over. He spread his blanket out and laid down, rolling himself up in it. Placing his pillow under his head, he tried to relax and sleep, but his mind was racing.

He kept thinking about Mystique's sudden return, Wanda, Pietro's story, Magneto, and...what was going to happen next. Now that Mystique was back, could he cut back on working on so much?

That would be nice, he sighed contentedly. That would be really nice. For the first time in a month the turbulent sea in his belly calmed.

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Fred was downstairs scrambling eggs for breakfast when Mystique entered. She didn't speak, and he tried not to stare at her. She looked different, more muscular than she had before. He watched her scrounge about for the means to make coffee. She scowled when she came away with an empty tin of instant coffee. "What have you boys been eating?"

Fred shrugged, "Food. We stopped keeping coffee in the house after you left."

"Why?" Mystique went around the kitchen opening and closing cabinets, and peered into the pantry and refrigerator.

"Speedy became much less annoying after we quit buying the coffee. We never actually saw him drink it, but there was too much of a change in his behavior for us to believe he wasn't when we stopped getting it."

Mystique narrowed her eyes, "Some things are going to have to change in the way I run this place now. Starting with cleanliness, order, and discipline. Certain people in the past have been getting liberties that have now been revoked."

Fred frowned dumbly, "What are you..." He remembered the conversation in Pietro's room the night before. Magneto was Pietro's father; the skinny boy looked just like him. Mystique had never lit into Pietro like she had the others.

"Magneto is my enemy now, OUR enemy."

Fred frowned, Magneto had never really done anything to him. But...he recalled Pietro's story...he'd hurt his friend. "Alright."

Mystique was quiet as she studied him. Her lips slowly turned up in a smile, then she snapped, "Your eggs are burning!"

Fred jumped, almost making the sizzling skillet jump with him. He removed the hot pan from the stove careful to burn himself and placed it in the sink scowling down on the browning eggs. Another scorched meal- alla- Fred, come and get it guys. He wondered when Lance would ban him from the kitchen? He kept ruining perfectly good food. None of it ever went to waste really, because he and Pietro ate everything, but it could have tasted so much better if Fred hadn't defiled it.

"Next time, I suggest someone else do the cooking. Now I assume you and your friends still go to school, which is why you are up this early. I'm glad that you've been doing something useful since I've been gone."

"Yeah," Fred grumbled, scooping crunchy eggs out of the skillet and pouring them onto a large plate.

"The X-Men? Have they approached you at all?"

Fred shook his head. They never approached him, not after Jean... Lance had said they'd come to the grocery store, and Pietro talked to Evan Daniels on occasion, but that was their business, not Fred's, to disclose.

"Odd, would have thought that bleeding heart Xavier would have come to you," Mystique murmured. The sound of glass breaking drew her attention away from the conversation. "Sounds like Wanda's awake."

Some of the eggs fell on the floor, as Fred tried to register where the shattering had come from. Not from upstairs, he breathed in relief. "Is having her here such a good idea?"

Mystique laughed, "Of course it is, she's our new weapon against the X-Men, and against her father. I assume Quicksilver has told you everything."

"Yeah."

"Good, that makes my job even easier."

Easier than when you weren't here to do it? Fred thought bitterly. He was glad when she left the room. Todd joined him a minute later looking around nervously, "Is she gone?"

"Yeah. Were you hiding out waiting for her to leave?"

"Yeah, I smelled breakfast burning so I figured you were almost finished with it, yo, but when I heard her voice in here..." Todd gulped. "I gotta give her that note."

Fred munched on a fork-ful of overdone eggs thoughtfully, "Glad I'm not you."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Are Lance and Pietro up?"

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Lance was awakened by Pietro rustling about the room, making his bed and getting ready for school. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and stretching, moaning when his back popped several times. He was too old for sleeping on the floor. As soon as he rose from his pallet a gust of wind was whipping about him gathering the sheets, folding them, and putting them away. Pietro sat on the edge of his bed, smirking at Lance a split second later.

Lance groggily acknowledged him with a nod of his head. He trudged out of the room to brush his teeth and get a quick shower. He hadn't done any of his homework, but he didn't feel guilty about it. He'd finally gotten a decent night's sleep, even if it was on the floor of someone else's bedroom. He brushed his teeth quickly, swallowing the mint flavored froth of toothpaste instead of spitting it out and hopped in the shower to be delighted with the joys of having hot water.

As he scrubbed, he heard someone enter the bathroom. "Hey, occupied man!"

"I'm not looking at you Alvers," Pietro sneered. "I'm looking at me."

"For someone who cares so much about what he looks like, it's abnormal for you not to have a larger mirror in your room," Lance rinsed the suds from his hair.

"This one's good enough for me," Pietro remarked, coughing lightly and running water into the sink. "Lance, I thought you were going to have a talk with Todd about his hygiene."

"Slime in the sink?" There had been slime in the sink, and he hadn't noticed it?

"No... toenail clippings..."

Now that was just vile. Lance wasn't going to talk to Todd; he was going to KILL Todd. How fuzzy eyed had he been not to notice that? He turned off the water and grabbed the towel he'd slung over the rod. He dried off enough to stop himself from dripping and wrapped the towel around his waist. He exited the bathroom and nearly rammed into Pietro who followed him to his room.

"Pi..." Lance blinked, watching the younger boy slide into his room before him and go on a cleaning spree. "What are you doing? Why don't you go down and eat..." Oh...Mystique, Wanda... His mind finally woke up and so did his tummy. Who knew what frame of mind Wanda would be in that morning or if she would be waiting for Pietro when he came down. He dressed in his closet with the door closed, light on. When he reemerged his room was unrecognizable; he could see the floor. He had carpet! Pietro was at his desk pondering over his unfinished homework. "I could do this in 5 minutes. Do you want me to?"

"The teacher would know I didn't do it; it'd be legible."

"I can write messy," Pietro said balancing a pencil on his index finger, then twirling it.

Lance shook his head and pulled a pair of combat boots from under his bed, "Knock yourself out, Pi."

By the time he'd finished with his shoes, found his coat, and got his backpack, Pietro was finishing up his pre-cal homework. He spun in the chair, holding out the spiral to Lance to inspect. Lance glanced over it; the numbers were still too neat, but it was better than explaining to Mrs. Rosdale that his non-existent pet iguana had gobbled his homework up again. (Dogs were so overrated). He tucked the papers into his bag, then headed for the door, leaning on it and gazing at Pietro. He still sat at the desk now doodling on loose-leaf paper. His face was drawn with tension and his color was unhealthy; Lance once again found himself placing his hand on the other teen's forehead. He was a little warmer than usual, but Lance wasn't sure if it was anything to worry about.

"Lance, stop it! I'm fine," Pietro shoved Lance away; he cracked his knuckles and went back to doodling, tapping his feet at an increasing speed.

Lance sighed, brushing health concerns aside, "Do you want to try to sneak out?"

"Can we?" Pietro's blue eyes were large and eager in his thin face.

Lance smirked, "Come on, we'll go out the window. Todd and Fred are gonna kill us after they find out."

"Yeah-yeah, lets get donuts on the way. I'm buying! Wait-a-sec-while-I-get-my-stuff," Pietro was gone and back in flash and at the window looking at Lance impatiently. Lance grabbed the keys to his jeep and tucked them into his pocket. They'd have to get gas on the way too, he thought absently as he scrambled out of the window after Pietro.

The November air was frigid and Lance shivered as he zipped up his coat. "We'll- have-to-push-the-jeep-out-of-the-driveway-so-no-one-will-hear-it-start-up!"

Pietro seemed excited, "Come-on-come-on, before-someone-comes-out!"

"I'm not pushing a jeep, Pietro. We'll just peel out," Lance said, after unzipping the door on the plastic cover insulating his jeep. He tossed his book bag into the backseat and climbed into the driver's side. Pietro climbed in beside him with a pout, "You're no fun."

"Am I ever?" Lance batted his eyes. He started the jeep and backed out of the driveway quickly. "We've gotta get some gas first, but after that we can stop at McDonald's or something."

"Donuts!" the speedster protested.

"I'm not dealing with you on donuts this early in the morning!"

"Fine... McDonald's is cool...long as I get coffee."

"Orange juice."

Pietro was silent, and Lance turned up the radio.

"The house shook this morning, and you were still asleep; so, unless you were dreaming about making mountains..."

"Wanda?"

Pietro nodded. "I wonder if that weird old lady that came in and made her stop going crazy is still there."

Lance blinked, he'd almost forgotten about that, "Hopefully. She sure came in handy."

The older teen glanced over at his younger companion to see him relaxed against the fabric of the chair with his eyes closed; the heated air from the vents brushed through his bleached locks. "You're gonna have to face her again, Pi, sooner or later. She's gonna calm down, and she's gonna want to talk to you."

"I hope so," Pietro whispered, startling Lance. "I want to talk to her so bad, but I'm afraid that... What if she really hates me? What if she decides she never wants to talk to me again? Lance, I don't know what I'll do. My foster parents, my father, my sister... I can't take another rejection– I can't!"

He covered his face with his hands and sat still. Lance nervously looked for a safe place to pull over. He didn't know what he had been expecting from the white-haired boy, but certainly not this. Pietro was not one for crying or revealing true emotions. Todd was the one that cried sometimes; Fred was the one that talked about insecurities. Pietro hadn't even much given them background information on himself until last night. He pulled into the parking lot of a small generic gas station and shifted the jeep into park.

Pietro was murmuring under his breath in hyper-speak, and Lance let him. He needed to get whatever it was out of his system, and Lance needed to come up with a game plan. All Todd took was a hug and a promise to spend a day with him; all Fred took was ice cream with plenty of chocolate syrup and whipped cream. He had no file on Pietro, other than keep all sources of caffeine and sugar far away from him. "Pietro, I'm gonna pump some gas, stay in the car, ok?"

He waited to see Pietro's reaction. The boy removed his hands from his face and looked at Lance with dry eyes. "I'll do it. I need to do something."

"Ok," Lance nodded; whatever he wanted to do. He reclined in the front seat watching his friend go through the motions of pumping gas with a look of extreme concentration on his face. He even watched the boy go in and pay for the gas. Lance had wanted to object, but his wallet was feeling pretty thin these days.

"We were really riding on fumes, Lance," Pietro said climbing back into the car. "I heard the gas hitting the inside of the gas tank that's how empty it was in there."

Lance smirked, that was nothing new. He played with his keys and listened to Pietro fidget. "Well, are we going?"

"Not just yet," Lance said; he turned to his younger friend meeting his eyes, "Do you want to talk for a little bit? You're dealing with a lot of crap right now, and I know it would make me feel a lot better to be able to rant to someone about it. You said something earlier, right before we pulled over. You wanna go back to that?"

"What did I say earlier?" Pietro frowned, scratching his head and adjusting his seat. "Hey, aren't we supposed to be getting breakfast? We'll be late for school if we don't go get it now."

"Then we'll be late; it's no big deal compared to this. I don't want you to go to school this upset."

"I'm not upset."

Lance rolled his eyes and dropped his keys in his lap, "Tell me more about Wanda, Pietro. I figured you would want to reestablish a relationship with her, but I had no idea it was that important to you. You have this air about you that makes us all want to think nothing gets to you; so – for you to say something like what you did earlier, about being rejected, worries me."

"Ice cream, a hug, and a date with you ain't gonna fix me," Pietro said flatly. "Todd and Freddy like counseling sessions, not me. If you keep this up, I'm not gonna buy you anything from McDonald's. If I had known you wanted to have a heart to heart, I would have taken my chances with meeting up with Wanda. She never was a morning person..."

"Wanda's been in a dark place for a long time, she's never gonna be the sister you remember. What if she hates you, and what if she leaves the Brotherhood first chance she gets? How would you take that?"

"I don't know. I hope I can just take it, like I take everything else," Pietro shrugged. His previous distress had dissipated somewhat.

Lance remained silent, waiting for Pietro to continue as he knew he would.

"I never forgot about her you know? I have nightmares about the fires, about the day we were separated. I just never thought I'd see her again. Whenever Father took something away from me, I never saw it again. When I saw her..." he trailed off, bringing a hand to his mouth and bitting the knuckle of his slightly bent index finger, "she looks so different, but then she doesn't. I knew her when I saw her."

The speedster pulled his knees to his chest and shut his eyes shivering a bit. Lance wanted to smack himself; it was cold and windy, and though the younger teen wore a coat, his low body weight made it almost impossible for him to keep warm for long periods of time. They would have to get going and soon.

"I wanted to hug her, but then she... her eyes scared me. They looked so much like...like..." he swallowed hard, and pressed his forehead against his knees.

"Like what?"

"Father's eyes. They were so dark and hard. He always looked at me like that before he'd hurt me, and then she looked like that, and she tried to hurt me."

"Pi, I..."

He was cut off by Pietro quickly snatching his keys from his lap and sticking them into the ignition of the jeep, "I'm freezing my ass off Lance; turn the heat back on."

"Sorry." The jeep was started, and a blast of hot air struck them both in the face. "Pi, it's rough about your sister and your old man. Your old man treated you like shit, and your sister's mind has been warped. I don't know about old Magneto, but if your sister is half as great as you think she is, she'll get over herself and come to you."

"Whatever. Hey, do you think maybe I could skip the school thing? I really don't feel like going today."

"Where would you go instead?" Lance started put the car in drive and moved to the edge of the driveway waiting for a chance to enter traffic. He looked at his counterpart from the corner of his eyes, he had his head down on his knees again, "Hey– are you sure you feel ok? I wouldn't keep bugging you if you didn't look like shit."

"If I say no, what then?" was the murmured response, and Lance put the jeep in park again. Someone behind them honked; the path onto the main road was momentarily clear. The ground quaked briefly, causing the Lexus behind them to sink into a newly formed pothole.

"Damn you, Pietro! Why can't you ever just come out and say stuff? Why do I have to drag you across town and promise you treats for you to open your mouth and say 'I'm scared,' or 'I don't feel well?' I've been asking you for days!"

"Well, before I was just tired; today 'tired' graduated into not feeling well. It's nothing serious; I'm not gonna die; so I don't see why you're so upset about it! This is why I don't tell you anything. I'll be over this by lunch, relax."

Lance held back a growl. Stupid Pietro... "What do you mean you'll be over it by lunch?"

Pietro let out a loud sigh, "My body works fast, Lance! By lunch, my white blood cells will have kicked whatever-it-is that's making me feel like shit's ass, and I'll be fine. It's the way it's always been."

"But you've been looking like hell for days..."

"I've been rather stressed Lance; you know how it is," Pietro uncurled himself and set his legs back on the floor of the jeep. He pulled his jacket up over his exposed ears and looked off to the side clearly wanting to end the conversation.

Lance supposed he could accept that answer. Pietro had come clean about his emotions, and his health, and he usually left Todd and Fred alone after that. But somehow, as he gazed at his silent companion, Lance just didn't think it was that easy with Pietro. He got over to the right without putting on his turn signal and got honked at. He flipped the bird and turned the radio back on, as he continued to think. He had no baseline to make assumptions on Pietro's behavior off of, so he was going to have to experiment blindly.

With Mystique back, he would get to spend more time at home to make his observations. He uttered an inward sigh; every day he sounded more and more like a worrisome parent instead of a 17 year old boy, but for his family he'd take on any undesired role.

Experiment One, "Where do you want me to take you?"

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Author's Note: Well, that's it for Chapter 3. Let me know how you thought it was. (Review!) :) Ok, lol, take care!