Okay, as I have heard from two of my favorite authors, who will not be mentioned (cough-iamhollywood-cough-Lecheecopae-cough) there are glad I am still alive and writing, despite the lack of updates. So how about those shout outs

Lecheecopae: Ooookay, Kitty Kat. –carefully hugs back, despite the lack of oxygen-Yeah, I'll get some cement to patch him. Glad you like the park scene and I thoguth it was funny when I first wrote it. If your having a bit of trouble with what sounds right, you can always send it over to me and I'll take a look at it. I did it for drew and countless friends at school, so why not a crazy cat person? Hope you enjoy.

iamhollywood: I'm sorry, I should slave away at my computer nad do nothing but write endless stories for authors like you. Ummm, no, lol. I do have something behind the scenes starting up and you know me, I never hold back punches. Glad you like the previous chapter and i hope you liek this one.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, including a revealing of someone's feelings. NOW READ IT, PLEASE

Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions

Todd climbed up the worn stairs leading to the Brotherhood house with the first carefree attitude he had in a long time and walked through the front door. It had been a good three months since he felt like this, his mood spiraling down ward when he found out about Wanda's memories being erased and the fact he screwed up Kurt's relationship .He was glad when Wanda remembered things but the thing about Nightcrawler still ate him.

Contrary to popular opinion, Todd didn't actually hate Kurt; they were rivals, like he had been with Gabriel and Bengal, but Todd did feel a stabbing pain. He understood when a girlfriend's family members hated you because you were a mutant. Katie's brother and cousin hated him but her parents didn't mind too much.

Todd stopped and leaned against the pillar of the porch, his eyes shutting as he sighed. He should straighten things out with Nightcrawler and his flatscanner girl's parents, but he wasn't sure how to. Maybe Kale could give him some advice.

The old door knob turned with an old creak, the front door opening and closing softly. Todd opened his eyes and saw Wand and Lance standing in front of him. Lance was relatively calm and laid back, not as angry as he was surprised with Todd's abilities.

Wanda was unreadable. She had her arms folded over her chest and her dark eyes staring into Todd's amber eyes. There was anger, amazement, shock and…fear, the last the one she tried to hide the most.

"I guess you guys have some questions you wanna' ask, yo." Todd said, his hands drifting in his pockets.

"Yeah, we do." Lance said, his chocolate eyes glancing at Wanda's stormy ones, who never left Todd.

"So why don't I tell you what I want to tell you, and you can ask for some for some specifics. I may explain, yo, I may not." Todd said, his eyes challenging them. "Take it or leave it."

Lance looked at Wanda and the girl watched as he nodded his head, trying to get her to agree with Todd's proposal. Lance trusted Todd and knew he was always strong and smatter than he let on but was aware of how much more he was. Wanda nodded her head and they looked back at the amphibious mutant.

Todd pushed himself up and looked out across the drive, his eyes squinting as though he was trying to see something in the distance. The way his hair was tied back and exposing his face more made him seem older and wiser, too old for a seventeen year old.

"I was trained in martial arts rigorously, yo. I learned about five or six martial arts; things like Tai Chi, Kickboxing, Tae Kwon Doe; I actually have master's belt in Tae Kwon Doe." Todd said with a small smile. "For ten years, I busted my ass until me and Kale was some of the best in our group, yo."

"There are more of you?" Wanda asked in shock, her jaw dropping.

"Shhh." Lanced whispered.

"There were…at least nine of us, yo; six that I knew longer and trusted more than the other two, until they backstabbed me and my bro. Anyway, me and Kale were put through hell, thanks to your daddy Mags." Todd said spitefully. "That fucking asshole. He had no right, yo, none at all."

"My father?" Wanda asked, regretting the question immediately

Todd looked at her and his jaw clenched, his arms flexing visible in the short sleeved shirt. His eyes didn't exactly glow but deep in the pupils there was a fierce sparkle of light. A low growl rumbled in his chest as he looked at her, his mouth curling down in disgust.

"Your father, Eric Magnus Lensherr Maximoff, killed Kale's family six months after they took me in, yo. He crushed them in their car and threw them off a fucking cliff, yo." Todd said, walking right up to her, until he was eye to eye with her. "I remember being six years old and watching my brother, try to tear the fucking car apart, to save his mother and father. You say you hate your father for locking you up in a fucking nut house. I hate him for destroying my family and sending us to shit hole in hell."

"Wait, so Magneto knew you when he recruited you?" Lance asked, relaxing when Todd walked back across the porch.

"Yeah, he did and that's why he made me join. Trust me, yo, me joining the Brotherhood was not out of choice."

"What did he do?" Wanda asked, watching as Todd gave a shudder.

Todd didn't say anything; what would he say, that her father threatened to tell the Hassassin's Blade he was still alive and were they could pick him and other powerful mutants?

Todd sighed, he worked for the Brotherhood so that the X-Men and the Brotherhood were safe from the psycho fuckers they screwed him up. He might have been a ruthless soldier, or assassin, but he had a code of honor that Kale taught him and respected. He didn't always show it, but he followed it. Magneto had played on those codes

"Todd?"

Lance's voice reminded him of the fact he was asked a question and he looked at the two, knowing full well his eyes were shining a little with tears due to his memories. He shook his head softly, raising a hand to rub his jaw.

"That and where Magneto took me, you'll learn about it later but you're not ready for it now, yo." Todd said turning around, watching a dragonfly buzz near him. "I'm not ready to tell anyone, mainly cuz' I feel like shit for my choice."

Lance and Wanda looked at each other with puzzlement and then at the back of Todd, their thoughts similar. They had been lead to believe that he had been taken in because no one wanted him and Todd was trying to keep in Magneto's good graces. But in reality, Todd had been acting the entire time and had fooled everyone that had encountered him.

Wanda watched him intensely, questions ringing through her head but one was clearer than any; had he faked his feelings for her as well, or was he genuine about what he had said?

Despite how much Todd annoyed her to hell, Wanda found that his antics had been sweet and unyieldingly persistent and even when Todd seemed to stop, he still did small things for her like holding the door for her, fixing the odd thing that she might have broken by accident.

"Look, I really don't care who you were in your past, Todd. You're a hood, through and through." Lance said, clasping his teammate on the shoulder. "I just want to know why you didn't use your fighting skills before."

"Easy, yo. If people around here had really known that I knew all these different martial arts to the level I did, I would have gotten into a shit load more fights and I wouldn't be able to be as discrete as I can be now." Todd explained, the cracks from his rolling head audible to the other two mutants. "I do think some things through."

Todd watched Lance; he didn't really follow orders from the earth mover because he was a leader, but rather he had nothing better to do at the times. But Lance was an alright guy and it really showed when he was with Kitty, despite the fact that she seemed to irritate Todd to no end.

Lance was a good leader, but he was wrong about Todd being a hood. He wasn't a hood because he never gave his full abilities to the team and had no problems with that.

Lance nodded and then left the two standing there in the silence, the songs of crickets chorusing through the evening. Wanda slowly walked up to Todd; his body remaining motionless and rigid, as she stared at him from the side on.

With his haired pulled back and his eyes opened a little wider, Todd didn't look like the troublemaking teenager he acted as. After what Wanda saw Todd do, he actually looked like he would be more comfortable in an ancient battle field fighting with the sword and his bare hands.

His whole body stance made him seem closed off and distant but Todd actually was one of the few people who just stand, sit or just crouch there and listen to someone's ranting and raving. He also looked like a complete badass with his toned arms and his black and green tattoo visible for a change.

It was the three different views that Wand saw that made her realize, Todd had been through the worst time and time again. It was the same analogy she had of Dragon, his unyielding will in battle was in Todd as well; making Wanda think they were related for some reason.

She realized that Todd had also been through something than the mental institute where she had been locked away. As much as the wardens tried, they were afraid of laying a finger in her and Todd took her furious beatings in his stride. So what had he endured to become what he was.

But right now, Wanda only wanted to know one thing.

"Did you fake what you felt for me as well?" Wanda as softly but determinedly

"Yes." His answer couldn't have been more blunt and hard if he tried. "I have only really loved one person as much as I seemingly loved you and she was killed by someone I used to trust."

Wanda felt her world tip upside down and then her head collide with the floor; he had really been faking? But it had always seemed so genuine and ridiculously persistent to have been something he had made up, but by his tone he definitely was telling the truth.

"Why did you lie to me?" Wanda asked in a voice shaking with fury.

"I was just trying to show you that there was more to life than the destructive self hatred and enjoyment of pain you have, yo. I've been down that road before and if I didn't have Kale there for me, I probably would have been worse than you." Todd said, looking at Wanda for the first time in the conversation. "I have a lot to thank my brother for. I'm sorry, but I can't feel anything more than a feinted feeling for you because you don't know what love is, yo."

Todd walked right in front of Wanda and his amber eyes bored into her, like he was trying to see deep down into her soul.

"You fear love, Wanda. Fear love and you fear life, making you two thirds dead, yo."

The silence hung around them like a veil of shadows, Todd unmoved by the crystal tears trickling down her face. He reached to brush them away but hesitated and went inside; he felt like shit for telling her the truth, but since she had recently gotten her memories back, Todd really pitied the girl.

She had been happy, but that happiness had been a lie and he was glad she got her old memories back despite all the pain it had caused her. He hated lying to her while she had been under the influence of Mastermind but he was ordered by Magneto to act with the lie. Now that she had her memories back, he refused to lie to her, even if it hurt.

As he walked across the floor to the stairs, a silver blur flew out of the kitchen and grabbed Todd by the shirt, lifting the smaller mutant onto the balls of his toes and smacking him against the wall. Before, Todd would have acted as though he was terrified; now, his face like it had been carved of stone refused to yield any emotion and actually held a small smile.

"You got a lot of explaining to do." The silver hair mutant said savagely, his handhold on Todd's shirt tightening.

"Put him down, Pietro." Todd angled his eyes to Lance with Freddy. "He answered our questions and yeah, he lied to us about something but we don't need to hurt him; he just didn't want to use all his skills."

Raising his brows, Todd looked at Pietro and saw there was only fury building by the nanosecond. Todd knew that Pietro still thought of himself at the leader of the Brotherhood and hated taking orders.

"I don't have to do anything you say." Pietro seethed. "I'm going to beat this little fuck senseless if he doesn't give me my answers."

"Yeah, like you could, yo." Todd said arrogantly but Lance knew that Todd wasn't bluffing, that he probably could take the beating that Pietro might give.

"Listen, you ungrateful piece of shit, you should be one your knees to me since my father let you stay here." Pietro spat in Todd's face, his blue eyes flashing evilly. "I just need one word and I'll throw you out."

"But you father, wont. Because he doesn't want me to go to the X-Men and he knows I will." Todd said with a deadly conviction. "What, you thought I joined the Brotherhood by choice, yo?"

Todd had been slowly raising his left hand and he suddenly grabbed Pietro's wrist, giving it a sudden and sharp twist. Pietro yelped as he slowly lowered Todd. Suddenly, the amphibious boy's free hand flew out and chopped across Pietro neck, not even using half of his strength since any more would have killed Pietro.

"Trust me, I want you father to throw me out, yo." Todd said to the wheezing mutant. "And you can tell him all about this for all I care, cuz he won't do diddle shit."

The speed demon gasped while Todd ducked under his arm that he held up. Pietro's arm was twisted under with Todd and the amphibious teen's free hand grabbed his neck, with his fingers pressing against the pulse line in his neck that made Pietro feel light headed, the lack of oxygen and blood to his head making him dizzy.

Todd then gave a brutal kick to the back of Pietro's, forcing the super fast mutant to his knees and then released the speed demons neck. Rearing his fist back, Todd slammed his fist into Pietro's neck and let his arm go. There was sickening thud as Pietro's face collided with the floor and the boy lay stone still on the floor, Wanda coming into the house to see her brother beaten down.

"Someone please put that fucker to bed, yo, or he'll be a bitch in the morning." Todd muttered as he climbed the stairs to his bed.

"And I basically went straight to sleep after that, yo." Todd finished his story, with Kale coming up on the Xavier Institute. "

Kale nodded his head, taking all the information in. The gates slowly opened and Kale gently pushed the gas down, the sedan rolling along the drive. Todd had fallen silent after he had been speaking and was following the small light on the side of the road.

In the backseat, Rahne and Amara had fallen asleep; the rhythmic motion of the car and the late night enough to lull them to rest. Rahne had curled herself up slightly and her head was resting between her shoulders and the window. Amara had dropped down in her seat and her arms were crossed over her chest, her head curled around her shoulder.

"You did the right thing, bro." Kale said, watching Todd carefully. "It was good that you told some of the truth and I understand why you didn't tell them the whole story. It's better than what I've done."

Todd turned to look straight out of the car and sighed deeply, stretching her arms with a muffled yawn. Kale started to open his door when Todd caught his am.

"Your going to have to tell her one day." Todd said softly casting a glance at Rahne, the metamorphic girl's mouth plastered with a soft smile.

"I know, I just…I'm scared to." Kale said as he opened his door. "I'm afraid to lose what I have here."

"Kale, one day, maybe not sooner but later, our past is going to catch up with us and bite us in the ass. The question is, how do we draw the fire from them?"

Todd released Kale's arm and climbed silently out of the car, leaving Kale in the car for a moment. Kale slowly got out and, after shutting his own door, carefully opened Rahne's door, pressing his hands against her shoulder. Opening her door wide, Kale carefully scooped Rahne up in his arms and gently kick her door shut.

"Hey Kale?" Todd asked as he stood in front of Amara's door.

"Sorry Bro, your goanna have to carry her." Kale said with a smirk.

"Nah, it wasn't that." Todd said with a chuckle carefully opening the door. "I was hoping you could help me straighten things out with Kurt and his girl."

"The flatscanner? Amanda?" Kale asked, raising an eyebrow as his brother.

"Yeah, her."

"Sure, but we'll talk about in school on Monday." Kale said, shifting his hold on Rahne and smiled when she snuggled closer. "Come on, we should get them in bed."

As Kale carried Rahne to the front door, Todd lifted Amara out of her seat and froze as she stirred in his arms. He looked at Kale for help in a panic, but all Kale did was shoot him a wicked smile and shrug, unlocking the door with his tail.

"T-Todd?" Amara asked sleepily, her hand lightly touching his face.

"Uh, yeah, it's me, yo." Todd asked awkwardly, starting to lower her.

What happened next absolutely floored him. The Nova Roma girl flung her arms around his neck and snuggled closer to him. She muttered something about Todd's chest being comfy and dozed off.

Todd stood there with Amara in his arms with her arms wrapped around his neck in complete shock. Kale looked like had have been rolling on the ground in laughter if he was holding Rahne. Kale gently opened the door and walked inside silently, the lights were off but Kale could see clear as day. He and Todd carried the two girls upstairs, stopping when they got to the landing.

"Where do we put the girls?" Todd whispered, glancing up and down the hallway.

"Let's put em' in my room and we'll crash on the couch, unless you got to head back." Kale said, leading Todd along the corridor to his room.

"I do have to get back; the guys think I'm still in my room, yo."

"Cool."

Kale opened his door and let Todd rest Amara down the bed, untangling her arms from his neck. Her hands reached out until she grabbed one of Kale's pillows and wrapped her arms around it. Todd then opened Kale's window and after giving a wave to his brother, leaped out to the ground.

Kale shook his head in amusement and walked to the side of his bed, ignoring the contented sighs of Amara. Kale stopped for a moment and looked at the curled up Rahne in his arms. Kale felt his lips curl into a smile automatically; Rahne made him feel something that no one had ever done to him and he felt a powerful connection with her, something much deeper than simple love.

Kale slowly kneeled down and rested Rahne down on the sheets of his bed, brushing a strand of her hair aside. After watching for a few minutes, he started to get up but Rahne's hand was pressed against his cheek and Kale turned back to her now open emerald eyes.

"Stay." Rahne said, lifting her head up. "Please?"

Kale gave a pleasant sigh. "There isn't enough room for me, Rahne."

The lycanthropic girl slowly sat up tiredly and took his hands, making him stand with her; Kale nodded with closed eyes and a grin and he grabbed his other pillow. Rahne took the pillow from him and let Kale guide her downstairs, their enhanced sight leading them into one of the common rooms.

Kale kicked his shoes off as well as take off his over shirt, leaving him in his sleeveless and his pants and lay down on the couch, pressing his back against the back rest of the sofa. Rahne smiled as she put the pillow under his raised head, kissing him while she was close enough, and lay down beside her boyfriend, his powerful arms wrapping around her waist.

Rahne bent her legs with Kale and rested her hands on his. Kale's large chest rose and fell in such a rhythmic motion and Rahne sweet aroma of forest flowers quickly sent them both asleep. But before sleep claimed him, Kale pressed his lips against Rahne's neck and pulled her close enough to rest his head on her shoulder.

And for the first time neither of them had any nightmares.

As the couple settled for the night, a pair of slit pupils watched them and smiled; Serpentina knew what Dragon's weakness was now. She turned and watched as Toad leaped across the grounds and over the gate.

Serpentina cast one glance at the two and went after Toad, her steps silent and swift. Her hood fell back as the wind blew across her face, a sure sign that fall was at hand. As she came up on the gates, Serpentina extended her arms and her hands extended into snakes, which flew out, extending and growing rapidly, and latched onto the stone pillars.

The assassin lifted herself up with the help of her serpents and flew over the gates, releasing her snakes and landing in a crouch. The serpents slowly shrunk and returned to her normal hands.

Smiling with wickedness, Serpentina didn't continue her run after Toad but wne the other way. The Nority Brother had no idea was she was about to unleash upon them and it made her shudder with anticipation.

Oooooooo...that was interesting, a little glimpse into Toad's mind andwhat he thinks of people. And what, or who, is Serpentina going to unleash on the Nority brothers? Guess you'll have to wait till next time.

Now, Please review this story; i don't care if your not a member or an author of this site, what really matters is the feed back, posisitive and negitive. So please, just click the button and reply to this piece of writing. I will really apriciate it.

-Lin