Disclaimer- "Johnny Tight-Lips, where'd they shoot ya?" "I ain't sayin'
nothin'." "But what will we tell the doctor?" "Tell him to suck a lemon."
Author's Note- Lemme just say this before anybody comes to conclusions. There will be NO Todd/Wanda, Tanda, Wodd, Woad, Toanda, or whatever you want to call it. No romantic relationship between them at all, but they'll be closer.
Chapter Fourteen- Quarrels
*Two days after rescuing the captives*
"Do you know what they did to him?" Wanda asked Todd quietly, sitting closer to him than she usually did. The poor guy just practically came from Hell; she wasn't just about to hex him into the wall.
Todd sighed. "Wanda, I'll tell you the truth. If they did anything to him like the things they did to me..." he trailed off, unable to finish.
"It was that bad, huh?" Wanda said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. He would have rejoiced in the contact between them four years ago, but now he barely noticed that she was closer to him than she had ever been before.
"You have no idea," he muttered, turning away from her. "It wasn't anything like the Holocaust, really. There was no backbreaking labor or crematories or anything vile like that. Experiments, mostly. There were occasional beatings, especially from Dyke." His eyes shown with anger at mentioning the guard, his hands curling into tight fists until the knuckles of his pale skin turned ghost-white.
"Did he beat Pietro?" she whispered, her hand tightening on his shoulder for fear of what the answer would be.
"Sometimes he gathered a group of us. Only four times out of the three years Dyke was there was Pietro in the same group as me," he bowed his head, "Oh, God, you won't believe how terrible it was, Wanda. The beatings we all went through. But sometimes he didn't get to some of us."
"But did he beat Pietro?" Wanda's voice shook slightly.
Todd was silent for a moment. Wanda's heart thumped, waiting for his reply. Then a sorrowful whisper was uttered from him, but Wanda was close enough to hear it clearly.
"He never screamed..."
*~*~*~*~*
"You have a great taste in clothes, Pietro," Crystal complimented him, setting down all the shopping bags near the front door. "They'll look good on you when you wear them."
Pietro raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed slightly, realizing what she had just said.
"Thanks," Pietro said dryly, taking the bags that contained his clothes and separating them from the others.
"Uh, I think Johnny might have information on...on what you were wanting to know about," she said awkwardly, walking straight ahead to lead him to where the Human Torch was currently supposed to be. Pietro followed.
Johnny was sitting amongst various, expensive, technological equipment when Crystal and Pietro entered. He turned around on the swivel chair and gave Pietro a small smile.
"Well, the Brotherhood is where they always had been, the Brotherhood Boarding House of Bayville." Johnny told him.
"S'long, see ya, bye," Pietro said, but Crystal quickly grabbed his arm before he could prepare himself to run all the way home.
"Pietro, we're driving you there. We don't want you captured again," Crystal said firmly, holding onto his arm very tightly.
"They can't catch me," he argued.
"But they did the first time, didn't they?" she shot back at him, holding his gaze. He struggled in her grasp, but she only grabbed hold of his other arm.
"Just, just let us drive you there. To make sure you arrive there safely, alright?" she said, staring at him with pleading eyes.
"Fine," he said grudgingly, "but you better be ready to drop me off there in two minutes."
"Give us a few hours. Our headquarters are quite some time away from Bayville."
"What am I suppose to do in a few hours?" Pietro asked incredulously, again wondering why people could stand to be so slow.
"Well," Crystal said, "for the half-hour it takes for the five of us to get ready, you might want to pack first, eat something, and if you want you could work in the workout room for a little while."
Pietro contemplated this for a second. "First," he said, "I'm going to change out of these damn clothes," he gestured to the borrowed clothes from Johnny, "and change into my new ones."
*~*~*~*~*
Wanda shook, her face ashen. Her fists were clenched at her sides, knuckles bone-white. She stormed right up to the Xavier mansion, determined to tell her father on what the bastards had done to her brother.
With a wave of her hand, the gates opened themselves. Then, without knocking or doing anything to announce her arrival, the door flung open, nearly banging off the hinges.
"Hello Wanda" Multiple said cheerily, stopping on his way up the stairs. She merely growled at him, demanding to tell her where her father was.
"Uh-uh," Jamie struggled, a little frightened. "I think he's in the med- bay. Or-or he could be in the Professor's office. Uh-um Scott probably knows." He scampered up the stairs, tripping on the third to the last one, three clones popping out of him. Over the years he had gained some control and managed to make lesser clones that came when involving clumsiness.
Now trembling visibly, she hurried down to the medical bay, where some of the captives where recovering, and where her father undoubtedly was.
She slowed when she heard voices. Two of them were familiar, the third was a female and new to her. Approaching cautiously, Wanda stopped outside of the door.
"Ms. Dane, would you be so kind, and if you are comfortable about it-could you tell us what exactly happened in there?" her father asked in a somewhat calm and soothing voice. Wanda peeked over at the woman that was obscured from her view by her father's figure. All she saw was a flash of something green, presumably the girl's hair.
"Horrible things," Ms. Dane whispered, "Experiments and stuff. Sometimes beatings. But they-they usually beat the males more often. Sometimes right in front of our cells...sometimes in a group in a secluded room. They-they filmed them all. Then they played it...they showed us what they did, over and over and over again. It was like reliving our beatings... The assholes. They're all assholes!" She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"There, there, Lorna," soothed the Professor, patting her shoulder. "Wanda, you may speak to your father if you want."
Wanda started, cursing herself for not remembering that the Professor probably knew she had been there the whole time.
She walked hesitantly to her father, as he turned towards her, his expression impassive. Now she thought it wasn't such a good idea to tell him what she learned from Todd. His left eyebrow rose ever so slightly, and she straightened herself to her full height, held her head high, and walked determinedly to him.
"Father," she said, her voice surprisingly steady even though she was shaking all over. "I have something to tell you that I learned from Toad."
The chaired behind her hit her in the back of her knees, and she collapsed into it with a surprised gasp. The chair beside the bed also scooted up and Magneto lowered himself in it calmly, part of his face shadowed by his helmet. His back was so straight that it looked like as if a rod was keeping him up, and his arms rested on the armrests like the stature of Abe Lincoln. He waited patiently.
Wanda swallowed several times, now unsure whether or not she should tell him. He might get extraordinarily angry, and that wasn't a good or a safe thing to happen. 'Come on, Wanda,' she scolded herself mentally, 'He's your father. He won't take his anger out on you!'
"Uh," she was now aware that Lorna, her father, and the professor where staring at her. "I-I learned some-things about-about the camp from Toad."
"So you said," Magneto's voice seemed to echo from the inside of that ridiculous helmet on top of his head. The Professor gave him a reproving look. Lorna hugged her knees, green eyes staring intently at her.
Wanda lowered her eyes to look at her knees. "He told me what they did to Pietro," she said lowly. Magneto's hand twitched slightly.
"Yes?" he said slowly, almost eagerly.
"I-I asked him if they ever beat him."
"And?" Magneto's voice now held a note of impatience.
"About Pietro, he-he said that he-that he never," she swallowed, "screamed. Toad said Pietro never screamed. When-when Toad was with him, at least."
Tears clouded her vision and she shut her eyes, the tears streaming down her face as she did so. She raised her head and opened her eyes, staring at her father. He had gone rigid.
She slid from her seat and down to her knees and fell forward onto Magneto's knees. She clutched to the royal purple cape, seeking comfort from the one man she had known raised her from the time she was just eight to the now adult woman she was. But he sat there, unmoving, staring straight ahead.
The daughter of the most known mutant terrorist raised herself up slightly, so her head was level with his chin, and she raised her hands to the side of his head, grasping the helmet gently in her palms and her fingers, and lifted. The expression on his face was stony, and he seemed not to have noticed the sudden coolness that surrounded him, where his helmet kept the area around his head warmer than usual. It slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor noisily.
"Father," Wanda choked. She needed the comfort that only a father could give; where was it? She cupped his face between her hands, and then slowly, his gaze shifted to her face, broken by despair, and the man was not Magneto anymore for that instant. She broke down in pitiful sobs, rushing forward to bury her face in his shoulder, and awkwardly, the great Master of Magnetism wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, his face contorted in anguish, but no tears spilled.
"He's still alive," she choked out, muffled by his shoulder, "I can feel it. He's still out there, alive. I can feel his heartbeat beside mine...Oh, God he's still out there."
Erik tightened his arms around her, his embrace as much as a comfort to him as it was to her.
He wouldn't loose another child...He couldn't.
The Professor left quietly to give them privacy. Lorna turned her back towards them, attempting to go asleep, but couldn't help but eavesdrop a little.
"We'll find him," Erik said soothingly, "He's my son."
'I need him.'
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Arewethereyet? Arewethereyet? Arewethereyet?"
Ben Grimm gripped the wheel of the van tightly, clearly trying not to loose his temper with the maniac behind him. Johnny was in the passenger's seat, his arms across his chest, his face flushed angrily. He too, was trying not to turn around and throttle the speed demon. Pietro would probably move out of the way quickly, annoying them again from a different and safer spot. Crystal smiled slightly from her seat next to him.
"No, seriously, are we there yet?"
"No," Johnny growled.
"Are we close?"
"About two and a half hours," Ben informed calmly.
"What?! What am I suppose to do for two and a half hours!" Pietro wailed in disbelief, horror etching his features.
"Here," Crystal said, shifting her body away from the window so she would be facing him, "we'll play a game."
"What kind of a game?"
"I don't know, a car game."
"What kind of a car game?" he asked.
"How many car games are out there?" Crystal asked, shrugging. "I don't know, the license plate game?"
Pietro rolled his eyes.
"I-Spy?"
"Fine," Pietro said. "Me first."
"I spy with my little eye something that is big, moving, and blue with the number four painted on the side."
Crystal rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, "The Fantastic Four van."
"Clever one, you are," Pietro said, giving a low whistle.
"Don't be smart with me," Crystal warned, and then drew in a breath. "I spy...with my little eye, something green."
"The grass?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No."
"That mini-van over there. Ugh, who'd want a green mini-van? Who'd want a mini-van period?"
"No."
"That velvet pillow thing by your feet."
"Nope."
"Ben Grimm's jacket."
Crystal clapped, "Bravo, Monsieur Maximoff."
"Oh, you know French. How nice," he said sarcastically.
"What's wrong with French?" Crystal asked with a scrunched forehead.
"It's not original! So many darn people know the language! Learn something exotic like...Taiwananese!"
"That's not even a word. Taiwan is not exotic."
"Dare you to argue with me?"
"Yes."
"Ooh, is that a challenge?"
Crystal backed up a bit. Something in his tone was different when he said that line. Like he uttered it a million times before, that he automatically said it when someone went against him.
"Maybe," she said a bit cautiously.
"Well, it is to exotic. Case closed." He crossed his arms across his chest and huffed.
"Oh, so if French is so unoriginal then what original languages do you know?" Crystal asked as snobby as she could.
"I know lots of languages." [1]
"Name one."
"French."
"Ugh, we just had that discussion about how 'unoriginal' it is!" Crystal threw her hands up in the air.
"Fine. I know German."
"And why do you know German?"
"Because my adoptive parents spoke it, and my father had me tutored."
"You're adopted" Crystal asked curiously, surprised.
"Does it matter?" He snapped.
"No, of course not. Why would it?"
"Then why do you sound so fricken' surprised?"
"Well, how the hell should I have known?" Crystal snapped back. "Now say something in German."
"Ihr Liebhaber ist ein Schnitzer."
"What does that mean?"
"Your lover-boy is a boner."
Johnny turned around abruptly in his seat and attempted to dive at Pietro from the front, but because there was not that much room for diving at people in the van, he fell into Ben, which made him swerve the car.
"Damn it, Johnny, sit down!" Ben growled after gaining control over the vehicle again.
"Did you hear what he just called me?" Johnny said vehemently, turning around to give Pietro an icy glare.
Crystal tried to glare at Pietro, but dissolved into giggles. "Pietro, that is not appropriate!"
Pietro smirked arrogantly. "I know Italian too."
"Oh?" Crystal raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you say something in Italian then?"
"Lei sono bello caldo." [2]
"And what does that mean?"
"Are we there yet?"
"You didn't seem to say it in a question." Crystal said.
Pietro shrugged. "Whattaya gonna do?"
"Two more hours," Ben said to them over his shoulder.
"Two more-that was only-what the hell am I suppose to do for two more hours?!" Pietro bellowed, making all of the occupants of the van wince.
Pietro groaned loudly, and slumped back in the bench. "So, what's Sue and Reed's kid's name again?"
"Franklin," Johnny answered.
"Franklin?"
There must have been a note of distaste in his voice because Crystal said, "What's wrong with Franklin? You don't like it?"
"Nothing's wrong with Richard. I, personally, don't like the name." Pietro defended.
"Oh, yeah, and Pietro's sooo much better." Johnny said sarcastically. "What the Hell kind of a name is Pietro anyways?"
"It's Eastern European!" he exclaimed hotly. [3]
"And why is your name 'Eastern European'? This is America!" Johnny said, rolling his eyes.
"Because I was born in Eastern Europe, you bastard! What the Hell is wrong with you? Can you not go a day without offending me?" Pietro hissed, leaning forward in his seat to Johnny's ear.
"Maybe if you stop being such a little prick-"
"Stop! Stop it this instant!" Crystal shouted over the both of them. Both stopped arguing and glowered at her.
"Both of you, quit acting like a bunch of two year olds! This is ridiculous!"
*~*~*~*~*
*One hour and forty-five minutes later*
"So there was this dance at your school that only the girls could ask the guys to go?" Crystal asked, trying to make conversation. Pietro nodded moodily, arms still crossed, leg crossed over the other in a 'manly' way, and looking out the window.
"Who asked you?"
"Four different girls."
"Oh," Crystal said, a little surprised, "Who'd you take?"
"All four of them."
Now Crystal was even more surprised. He took four girls to the dance and they hadn't even minded? And he was so confident in himself that he thought he could handle four of them for one night? He was more egotistical than anyone she had ever known.
Johnny made an indistinguishable noise. She ignored him, however.
There was another awkward silence. Pietro glanced out the window and jumped up to peer out of it, excitement, relief, and worry mingled in his expression.
"We're in Bayville!" he exclaimed, a small smile spreading on his face. "We're in Bayville!"
Crystal and Ben smiled, and even Johnny did a little bit too. Right now Pietro looked like a giddy little boy whose mother just brought home a present.
It was ten minutes later that they pulled into the driveway of the Brotherhood Boarding House that a single tear rolled down Pietro's porcelain colored skin.
The boarding house looked much different than it had four years ago. Somebody had actually taken the effort to fix up the shutters, the roof, the siding, the windows, doors, and chipped paint. The only problem with it now is that the old green jeep was still there, dented and scratched, and the lawn hadn't been mowed in quite awhile.
Before Ben could even properly stop the car, Pietro fumbled for the handle and opened the door, stumbling out of the van and running to the house. Crystal called out to him when she got out, running to catch up with him, and Johnny and Ben followed. Pietro froze at the door, his arm still raised to knock at it, and he hesitated. What were they going to say when they see him standing there on their doorstep, perfectly fine? He knocked, anxiously waiting for someone to answer.
He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and the door opened.
*~*~*~*~*~*
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Take THAT! What a cliffhanger!
[1] In my story, "Blood is Thicker Than Water" Magneto has Pietro and Wanda learn several foreign languages to broaden their education. Shameless plugging but, go check it out! Pwetty pwease?
[2] Lei sono bello caldo (Italian)- Pietro was really lying when he told Crystal what it means. What he actually said to her was "You are pretty hot."
[3] It's true! It's true! Pietro and Wanda were ACTUALLY born in Eastern Europe! If you rent an Evolution DVD and look at his profile, it says so under Place of Birth.
Actually, sorry if I do get all the foreign languages wrong and stuff. I got the translations from Freetranslation.com
Crazyspaceystracey- Yes, it is weird that they both have to do with fire and both of their names are some kind of form of "John". Actually, it wouldn't be nearly as weird if they both didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes. But I was actually referring to Amara and Roberto's mutant forms when Pietro said "seen it". Oh...THAT cannon. Uh, sure ;-)
Purity Black- Yes, they are quite good together...When they're TOGETHER, that is. Meaning when she's not cheating on him and when he's not losing his temper (both comic-wise). I'd be jealos of Crystal too! ;-) ::Mutters:: Lucky bitch...
I Am The Anonymous Reviewer- Yes, I picture those Maximoff's to have quite nice hair. It's so soft that it's addicting to touch. Ever have that happen to you? For now on, you are dubbed thee IATAR, just because your name's so darn LONG.
DemonRogue13- Pietro needs somebody to love and to help him get through all that crap. Nobody else is allowed to love Pietro intimately in my universe. Kietro must die. Rietro must die. I can NOT stand those pairings. Yes...Pietro is hot.
Tonianne- Thank you!
SPoOkZ13412- Here's what happens next! Like it?
Witch- Uk- Glad I got you interested!
Next for updates (in order)- In Dreams, The Downside of Falling in Love, Blood is Thicker Than Water, and (possibly, if writer's block goes away) Up in Flames.
Won't post the next chapter of this story until I get 90 reviews. See, I'm going by fives.
Like it? Hate it? Either way, review!
Author's Note- Lemme just say this before anybody comes to conclusions. There will be NO Todd/Wanda, Tanda, Wodd, Woad, Toanda, or whatever you want to call it. No romantic relationship between them at all, but they'll be closer.
Chapter Fourteen- Quarrels
*Two days after rescuing the captives*
"Do you know what they did to him?" Wanda asked Todd quietly, sitting closer to him than she usually did. The poor guy just practically came from Hell; she wasn't just about to hex him into the wall.
Todd sighed. "Wanda, I'll tell you the truth. If they did anything to him like the things they did to me..." he trailed off, unable to finish.
"It was that bad, huh?" Wanda said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. He would have rejoiced in the contact between them four years ago, but now he barely noticed that she was closer to him than she had ever been before.
"You have no idea," he muttered, turning away from her. "It wasn't anything like the Holocaust, really. There was no backbreaking labor or crematories or anything vile like that. Experiments, mostly. There were occasional beatings, especially from Dyke." His eyes shown with anger at mentioning the guard, his hands curling into tight fists until the knuckles of his pale skin turned ghost-white.
"Did he beat Pietro?" she whispered, her hand tightening on his shoulder for fear of what the answer would be.
"Sometimes he gathered a group of us. Only four times out of the three years Dyke was there was Pietro in the same group as me," he bowed his head, "Oh, God, you won't believe how terrible it was, Wanda. The beatings we all went through. But sometimes he didn't get to some of us."
"But did he beat Pietro?" Wanda's voice shook slightly.
Todd was silent for a moment. Wanda's heart thumped, waiting for his reply. Then a sorrowful whisper was uttered from him, but Wanda was close enough to hear it clearly.
"He never screamed..."
*~*~*~*~*
"You have a great taste in clothes, Pietro," Crystal complimented him, setting down all the shopping bags near the front door. "They'll look good on you when you wear them."
Pietro raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed slightly, realizing what she had just said.
"Thanks," Pietro said dryly, taking the bags that contained his clothes and separating them from the others.
"Uh, I think Johnny might have information on...on what you were wanting to know about," she said awkwardly, walking straight ahead to lead him to where the Human Torch was currently supposed to be. Pietro followed.
Johnny was sitting amongst various, expensive, technological equipment when Crystal and Pietro entered. He turned around on the swivel chair and gave Pietro a small smile.
"Well, the Brotherhood is where they always had been, the Brotherhood Boarding House of Bayville." Johnny told him.
"S'long, see ya, bye," Pietro said, but Crystal quickly grabbed his arm before he could prepare himself to run all the way home.
"Pietro, we're driving you there. We don't want you captured again," Crystal said firmly, holding onto his arm very tightly.
"They can't catch me," he argued.
"But they did the first time, didn't they?" she shot back at him, holding his gaze. He struggled in her grasp, but she only grabbed hold of his other arm.
"Just, just let us drive you there. To make sure you arrive there safely, alright?" she said, staring at him with pleading eyes.
"Fine," he said grudgingly, "but you better be ready to drop me off there in two minutes."
"Give us a few hours. Our headquarters are quite some time away from Bayville."
"What am I suppose to do in a few hours?" Pietro asked incredulously, again wondering why people could stand to be so slow.
"Well," Crystal said, "for the half-hour it takes for the five of us to get ready, you might want to pack first, eat something, and if you want you could work in the workout room for a little while."
Pietro contemplated this for a second. "First," he said, "I'm going to change out of these damn clothes," he gestured to the borrowed clothes from Johnny, "and change into my new ones."
*~*~*~*~*
Wanda shook, her face ashen. Her fists were clenched at her sides, knuckles bone-white. She stormed right up to the Xavier mansion, determined to tell her father on what the bastards had done to her brother.
With a wave of her hand, the gates opened themselves. Then, without knocking or doing anything to announce her arrival, the door flung open, nearly banging off the hinges.
"Hello Wanda" Multiple said cheerily, stopping on his way up the stairs. She merely growled at him, demanding to tell her where her father was.
"Uh-uh," Jamie struggled, a little frightened. "I think he's in the med- bay. Or-or he could be in the Professor's office. Uh-um Scott probably knows." He scampered up the stairs, tripping on the third to the last one, three clones popping out of him. Over the years he had gained some control and managed to make lesser clones that came when involving clumsiness.
Now trembling visibly, she hurried down to the medical bay, where some of the captives where recovering, and where her father undoubtedly was.
She slowed when she heard voices. Two of them were familiar, the third was a female and new to her. Approaching cautiously, Wanda stopped outside of the door.
"Ms. Dane, would you be so kind, and if you are comfortable about it-could you tell us what exactly happened in there?" her father asked in a somewhat calm and soothing voice. Wanda peeked over at the woman that was obscured from her view by her father's figure. All she saw was a flash of something green, presumably the girl's hair.
"Horrible things," Ms. Dane whispered, "Experiments and stuff. Sometimes beatings. But they-they usually beat the males more often. Sometimes right in front of our cells...sometimes in a group in a secluded room. They-they filmed them all. Then they played it...they showed us what they did, over and over and over again. It was like reliving our beatings... The assholes. They're all assholes!" She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"There, there, Lorna," soothed the Professor, patting her shoulder. "Wanda, you may speak to your father if you want."
Wanda started, cursing herself for not remembering that the Professor probably knew she had been there the whole time.
She walked hesitantly to her father, as he turned towards her, his expression impassive. Now she thought it wasn't such a good idea to tell him what she learned from Todd. His left eyebrow rose ever so slightly, and she straightened herself to her full height, held her head high, and walked determinedly to him.
"Father," she said, her voice surprisingly steady even though she was shaking all over. "I have something to tell you that I learned from Toad."
The chaired behind her hit her in the back of her knees, and she collapsed into it with a surprised gasp. The chair beside the bed also scooted up and Magneto lowered himself in it calmly, part of his face shadowed by his helmet. His back was so straight that it looked like as if a rod was keeping him up, and his arms rested on the armrests like the stature of Abe Lincoln. He waited patiently.
Wanda swallowed several times, now unsure whether or not she should tell him. He might get extraordinarily angry, and that wasn't a good or a safe thing to happen. 'Come on, Wanda,' she scolded herself mentally, 'He's your father. He won't take his anger out on you!'
"Uh," she was now aware that Lorna, her father, and the professor where staring at her. "I-I learned some-things about-about the camp from Toad."
"So you said," Magneto's voice seemed to echo from the inside of that ridiculous helmet on top of his head. The Professor gave him a reproving look. Lorna hugged her knees, green eyes staring intently at her.
Wanda lowered her eyes to look at her knees. "He told me what they did to Pietro," she said lowly. Magneto's hand twitched slightly.
"Yes?" he said slowly, almost eagerly.
"I-I asked him if they ever beat him."
"And?" Magneto's voice now held a note of impatience.
"About Pietro, he-he said that he-that he never," she swallowed, "screamed. Toad said Pietro never screamed. When-when Toad was with him, at least."
Tears clouded her vision and she shut her eyes, the tears streaming down her face as she did so. She raised her head and opened her eyes, staring at her father. He had gone rigid.
She slid from her seat and down to her knees and fell forward onto Magneto's knees. She clutched to the royal purple cape, seeking comfort from the one man she had known raised her from the time she was just eight to the now adult woman she was. But he sat there, unmoving, staring straight ahead.
The daughter of the most known mutant terrorist raised herself up slightly, so her head was level with his chin, and she raised her hands to the side of his head, grasping the helmet gently in her palms and her fingers, and lifted. The expression on his face was stony, and he seemed not to have noticed the sudden coolness that surrounded him, where his helmet kept the area around his head warmer than usual. It slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor noisily.
"Father," Wanda choked. She needed the comfort that only a father could give; where was it? She cupped his face between her hands, and then slowly, his gaze shifted to her face, broken by despair, and the man was not Magneto anymore for that instant. She broke down in pitiful sobs, rushing forward to bury her face in his shoulder, and awkwardly, the great Master of Magnetism wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, his face contorted in anguish, but no tears spilled.
"He's still alive," she choked out, muffled by his shoulder, "I can feel it. He's still out there, alive. I can feel his heartbeat beside mine...Oh, God he's still out there."
Erik tightened his arms around her, his embrace as much as a comfort to him as it was to her.
He wouldn't loose another child...He couldn't.
The Professor left quietly to give them privacy. Lorna turned her back towards them, attempting to go asleep, but couldn't help but eavesdrop a little.
"We'll find him," Erik said soothingly, "He's my son."
'I need him.'
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Arewethereyet? Arewethereyet? Arewethereyet?"
Ben Grimm gripped the wheel of the van tightly, clearly trying not to loose his temper with the maniac behind him. Johnny was in the passenger's seat, his arms across his chest, his face flushed angrily. He too, was trying not to turn around and throttle the speed demon. Pietro would probably move out of the way quickly, annoying them again from a different and safer spot. Crystal smiled slightly from her seat next to him.
"No, seriously, are we there yet?"
"No," Johnny growled.
"Are we close?"
"About two and a half hours," Ben informed calmly.
"What?! What am I suppose to do for two and a half hours!" Pietro wailed in disbelief, horror etching his features.
"Here," Crystal said, shifting her body away from the window so she would be facing him, "we'll play a game."
"What kind of a game?"
"I don't know, a car game."
"What kind of a car game?" he asked.
"How many car games are out there?" Crystal asked, shrugging. "I don't know, the license plate game?"
Pietro rolled his eyes.
"I-Spy?"
"Fine," Pietro said. "Me first."
"I spy with my little eye something that is big, moving, and blue with the number four painted on the side."
Crystal rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, "The Fantastic Four van."
"Clever one, you are," Pietro said, giving a low whistle.
"Don't be smart with me," Crystal warned, and then drew in a breath. "I spy...with my little eye, something green."
"The grass?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No."
"That mini-van over there. Ugh, who'd want a green mini-van? Who'd want a mini-van period?"
"No."
"That velvet pillow thing by your feet."
"Nope."
"Ben Grimm's jacket."
Crystal clapped, "Bravo, Monsieur Maximoff."
"Oh, you know French. How nice," he said sarcastically.
"What's wrong with French?" Crystal asked with a scrunched forehead.
"It's not original! So many darn people know the language! Learn something exotic like...Taiwananese!"
"That's not even a word. Taiwan is not exotic."
"Dare you to argue with me?"
"Yes."
"Ooh, is that a challenge?"
Crystal backed up a bit. Something in his tone was different when he said that line. Like he uttered it a million times before, that he automatically said it when someone went against him.
"Maybe," she said a bit cautiously.
"Well, it is to exotic. Case closed." He crossed his arms across his chest and huffed.
"Oh, so if French is so unoriginal then what original languages do you know?" Crystal asked as snobby as she could.
"I know lots of languages." [1]
"Name one."
"French."
"Ugh, we just had that discussion about how 'unoriginal' it is!" Crystal threw her hands up in the air.
"Fine. I know German."
"And why do you know German?"
"Because my adoptive parents spoke it, and my father had me tutored."
"You're adopted" Crystal asked curiously, surprised.
"Does it matter?" He snapped.
"No, of course not. Why would it?"
"Then why do you sound so fricken' surprised?"
"Well, how the hell should I have known?" Crystal snapped back. "Now say something in German."
"Ihr Liebhaber ist ein Schnitzer."
"What does that mean?"
"Your lover-boy is a boner."
Johnny turned around abruptly in his seat and attempted to dive at Pietro from the front, but because there was not that much room for diving at people in the van, he fell into Ben, which made him swerve the car.
"Damn it, Johnny, sit down!" Ben growled after gaining control over the vehicle again.
"Did you hear what he just called me?" Johnny said vehemently, turning around to give Pietro an icy glare.
Crystal tried to glare at Pietro, but dissolved into giggles. "Pietro, that is not appropriate!"
Pietro smirked arrogantly. "I know Italian too."
"Oh?" Crystal raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you say something in Italian then?"
"Lei sono bello caldo." [2]
"And what does that mean?"
"Are we there yet?"
"You didn't seem to say it in a question." Crystal said.
Pietro shrugged. "Whattaya gonna do?"
"Two more hours," Ben said to them over his shoulder.
"Two more-that was only-what the hell am I suppose to do for two more hours?!" Pietro bellowed, making all of the occupants of the van wince.
Pietro groaned loudly, and slumped back in the bench. "So, what's Sue and Reed's kid's name again?"
"Franklin," Johnny answered.
"Franklin?"
There must have been a note of distaste in his voice because Crystal said, "What's wrong with Franklin? You don't like it?"
"Nothing's wrong with Richard. I, personally, don't like the name." Pietro defended.
"Oh, yeah, and Pietro's sooo much better." Johnny said sarcastically. "What the Hell kind of a name is Pietro anyways?"
"It's Eastern European!" he exclaimed hotly. [3]
"And why is your name 'Eastern European'? This is America!" Johnny said, rolling his eyes.
"Because I was born in Eastern Europe, you bastard! What the Hell is wrong with you? Can you not go a day without offending me?" Pietro hissed, leaning forward in his seat to Johnny's ear.
"Maybe if you stop being such a little prick-"
"Stop! Stop it this instant!" Crystal shouted over the both of them. Both stopped arguing and glowered at her.
"Both of you, quit acting like a bunch of two year olds! This is ridiculous!"
*~*~*~*~*
*One hour and forty-five minutes later*
"So there was this dance at your school that only the girls could ask the guys to go?" Crystal asked, trying to make conversation. Pietro nodded moodily, arms still crossed, leg crossed over the other in a 'manly' way, and looking out the window.
"Who asked you?"
"Four different girls."
"Oh," Crystal said, a little surprised, "Who'd you take?"
"All four of them."
Now Crystal was even more surprised. He took four girls to the dance and they hadn't even minded? And he was so confident in himself that he thought he could handle four of them for one night? He was more egotistical than anyone she had ever known.
Johnny made an indistinguishable noise. She ignored him, however.
There was another awkward silence. Pietro glanced out the window and jumped up to peer out of it, excitement, relief, and worry mingled in his expression.
"We're in Bayville!" he exclaimed, a small smile spreading on his face. "We're in Bayville!"
Crystal and Ben smiled, and even Johnny did a little bit too. Right now Pietro looked like a giddy little boy whose mother just brought home a present.
It was ten minutes later that they pulled into the driveway of the Brotherhood Boarding House that a single tear rolled down Pietro's porcelain colored skin.
The boarding house looked much different than it had four years ago. Somebody had actually taken the effort to fix up the shutters, the roof, the siding, the windows, doors, and chipped paint. The only problem with it now is that the old green jeep was still there, dented and scratched, and the lawn hadn't been mowed in quite awhile.
Before Ben could even properly stop the car, Pietro fumbled for the handle and opened the door, stumbling out of the van and running to the house. Crystal called out to him when she got out, running to catch up with him, and Johnny and Ben followed. Pietro froze at the door, his arm still raised to knock at it, and he hesitated. What were they going to say when they see him standing there on their doorstep, perfectly fine? He knocked, anxiously waiting for someone to answer.
He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and the door opened.
*~*~*~*~*~*
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Take THAT! What a cliffhanger!
[1] In my story, "Blood is Thicker Than Water" Magneto has Pietro and Wanda learn several foreign languages to broaden their education. Shameless plugging but, go check it out! Pwetty pwease?
[2] Lei sono bello caldo (Italian)- Pietro was really lying when he told Crystal what it means. What he actually said to her was "You are pretty hot."
[3] It's true! It's true! Pietro and Wanda were ACTUALLY born in Eastern Europe! If you rent an Evolution DVD and look at his profile, it says so under Place of Birth.
Actually, sorry if I do get all the foreign languages wrong and stuff. I got the translations from Freetranslation.com
Crazyspaceystracey- Yes, it is weird that they both have to do with fire and both of their names are some kind of form of "John". Actually, it wouldn't be nearly as weird if they both didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes. But I was actually referring to Amara and Roberto's mutant forms when Pietro said "seen it". Oh...THAT cannon. Uh, sure ;-)
Purity Black- Yes, they are quite good together...When they're TOGETHER, that is. Meaning when she's not cheating on him and when he's not losing his temper (both comic-wise). I'd be jealos of Crystal too! ;-) ::Mutters:: Lucky bitch...
I Am The Anonymous Reviewer- Yes, I picture those Maximoff's to have quite nice hair. It's so soft that it's addicting to touch. Ever have that happen to you? For now on, you are dubbed thee IATAR, just because your name's so darn LONG.
DemonRogue13- Pietro needs somebody to love and to help him get through all that crap. Nobody else is allowed to love Pietro intimately in my universe. Kietro must die. Rietro must die. I can NOT stand those pairings. Yes...Pietro is hot.
Tonianne- Thank you!
SPoOkZ13412- Here's what happens next! Like it?
Witch- Uk- Glad I got you interested!
Next for updates (in order)- In Dreams, The Downside of Falling in Love, Blood is Thicker Than Water, and (possibly, if writer's block goes away) Up in Flames.
Won't post the next chapter of this story until I get 90 reviews. See, I'm going by fives.
Like it? Hate it? Either way, review!