Chapter 2

"What is wrong with those three today? This is their first time coming to school without creating chaos in the cafeteria," Scott Summers pointed out, smirking over at the Brotherhood table. The three boys were sitting in silence.Pietro was trying to talk to them, but received monosyllabic answers. Soon, he too fell silent.

Rouge who was an ex-Brotherhood member, shrugged. "Where's Freddy? He hasn't come to school for a week, not that he learns anything here. His skull is too thick." She purposely raised her voice, so that the Brotherhood could hear her.

The Brotherhood stiffened and whirled around to glare at the x-men. "Freddy's sick, yo,"Todd announced loudly. Lance grimaced and placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him.

"Todd, listen to me," Lance urged, leaning closer so that the x-men couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, "Fred's not sick. He's not at home anymore, Todd. He's dead. He ain't coming back."

Todd drew away from him, wide-eyed. "He's sick, Lance. I saw him in his room this morning. Said that he wasn't feeling too good," he persisted. Lance's jaw dropped, exchanging a shocked glance with Pietro.

They didn't know how badly Fred's death had affected him, but now they knew. Todd was going insane right before them. "For Christ's sake, Todd!" Pietro exploded, grabbing him roughly by the shoulders and shook him. "You saw it with your own two eyes that he died! Now accept it!"

The entire cafeteria had fallen silent; their attention all reverted on the Brotherhood boys. Ignoring all the attention that they were receiving, Lance jerked Pietro's hands away from Todd's shoulders. If looks could kill, Lance's glare would have fried Pietro.

"You're not making things any easier for him, Pietro, and violence does not help too. Guess what, Pietro; you are just like your dad. Acting with violence. He killed Fred, but you are too stubborn to admit it even when you saw it!" Lance spat.

Pietro's nearly white skin flushed a deep shade of red, as he stormed up to the older boy. "Keep my dad out of this, Alvers," He hissed, jabbing a finger straight in between Lance's eyes, " It was an accident."

"An accident?" Lance demanded incredulously, "What bullshit! You saw what he did to Fred. You saw how much he hurt Todd! Hell, he nearly killed me last month! Pietro, your blindness is going to kill all of us, if you don't grow up! Unfortunately, some people are too pig-headed to admit it!" Lance yelled, perfectly aware that their secret was out, but who cared? Those people knew that they were mutants. Who cared about them anyway?

Grabbing his black messenger schoolbag off the floor, Lance turned to Todd. The poor boy looked ready to burst into tears soon. "Come on, Todd, let's go," he said gently, taking him by the shoulder and marched out of the cafeteria.

With both the Brotherhood members gone, everybody's attention was now focused on the silver-haired teen, who was staring at the exit, his fists clenched. "Fine then, be that way," he muttered, storming back to his seat and sat down heavily. Finally, as if just realizing that he was the centre of attention, he snapped, "Well, what's so interesting about me?"

Most people, except the x-men dropped their gazes. Rouge was doing a bad job of hiding the worry on her face, while Scott's jaw stayed hanging, making him look like a gold fish out of water.

What joke were his friends trying to play on him? Telling him that his dad was a bad guy, who killed Fred and hurt them constantly. His father loved him a lot; surely he would not try to hurt his friends, would he? His dad would never hurt anyone…

Pietro nearly slapped himself for feeling so uncertain. It was probably the way Lance had said it, his voice was full of anger and sincerity. It sounded as if he were really telling the truth. His dad would never hurt anyone intentionally…at least from what he saw.

But what about those times they came back with new cuts and injuries after their weekly Saturday meetings with him? Didn't that show something? Or what about those metal collars fastened around their necks. Those looked like his fathers. The signature on it looked so familiar…

"No, no,"Pietro groaned, burying his face in his hands, totally aware of everyone staring at him again. But he didn't care. He cared about nothing, except the truth.

Was his father really the bad guy? If so, how could he live with the fact that he betrayed his friends to help the enermy? How could he live knowing that his father had lied to him all his life? Only pretending to care for him, when all he cared about was power?

Pietro gripped his head in his hands, willing the persistent voice to get out of his head. "shut up, just shut up!" he spat. I won't cry, he told himself over and over in his mind, but it did not seem to be working.

Pietro Maximoff did the next best thing he could do. He ran.