A/N: I'm a failure when it comes to uploading but oh well, I never forgot about this story and I still want to finish it. Also go listen to Raleigh Ritchie's new song Time in a Tree, it's divine.
Mira Black-Snape: Once again thanks a lot hun :)
Chapter 10: It'll Take a Village to Make a Man of Me, So Why Couldn't You Love Me?
"I should go with you just to fuck with 'em" St. John chuckled and earned himself a slap on the arm from Amara. "Ouch, what's that for?"
"Being an asshole" The younger girl furrowed her brows before turning to Violette. "Why are you all suddenly okay with each other again?"
Violette bit her tongue before saying that she couldn't lose her closest friend's daughter's childhood. Pietro never said whether it was okay for the others to know, so she never mentioned it.
In the back of her head, the voice present there since the beginning of the Apocalypse fiasco whispered that the less people knew the safer she was.
There was a sudden sharp pain in her head, replacing her thoughts with suffering. She closed her eyes, her fingers closing around the roots of her hair, her knees buckling. Tears sprung to her eyes and spilled down her cheeks in hot streams and two seconds later she collapsed to the floor, the pain in her head completely gone.
She shifted her eyes to Jin, whose fingers were gripping Amara's shoulder after he tried to stop her from falling. They too were on the floor looking worse for wear.
"What was that?" Amara chocked out, rubbing the center of her forehead in slow circles.
As if he heard her, the Professor sent them all a telepathic message.
It's Jean, nothing to worry about.
"Nothing to worry about, yeah right" Violette rolled her shoulders a couple of times, already feeling exhausted after only three hours out of bed. "I'm glad I'm getting away from here for the day, let me tell you."
It felt a bit weird to walk to the Boarding House's porch with Violette next to her. Kitty got so used to doing this alone, being the only one really interacting with them, but this felt as if Violette was imposing on something that was Kitty's. Even though Kitty thought she should feel the opposite.
The smile that lit up Fred's face when he opened the door only proved that to her.
"Violette!" He hugged her and Kitty just stood there, watching. Something in her stomach churned. "Oh, hi Kitty. Lance's upstairs."
Fred lead them to the living room, where Todd was watching Oprah and sketching her face while she talked with a cancer survivor. He immediately abandoned the drawing to instead great Violette. And then Kitty.
Wanda walked into the room with Luna in her arms and finally Kitty felt welcome in the house. Luna twisted out of her aunt's grip to run over to her and give her a quick hug.
"Tat!" She had a trouble with Cs and Ks that sounded similar to the one in Kitty's name and substituted them with Ts. Pietro and Lance decided to dodge a bullet by teaching Luna to call her Cat. Todd huffed about them ruining all of the fun in his life but agreed that Luna calling her 'Titty' would get old pretty fast.
"Hi, pumpkin" Kitty smiled, knowing if it was going to get worse she would ad least have the Brotherhood girls. "How's it going, Wanda?"
"It's alright" She shrugged, before nodding to Violette in greeting. She sat down next to Kitty and whispered quietly into her ear. "They're all freaking out."
As if to punctuate her words, Lance fell down the stairs, quickly dusted himself off and gave them all a chuckle.
Fucking dork.
Kitty knew it would be ridiculous to get jealous over the way Lance looked at Violette. They all looked at her this way and it had everything to do with being a family way back when. It wasn't the least bit romantic in nature.
But it was full of emotion and that's what scared her.
The only time Lance would express his emotions would be accidental. The sudden kick of honesty Apocalypse gave him disappeared within a week and prompted him to build even bigger walls up. She knew it wasn't really all her fault – his childhood, Mystique, hell Violette all had a bigger hand in building them, but Kitty herself helped him keep his guard up.
You're nothing but a hood.
She looked down at the child in her hands, babbling away and using the few words she knew to tell Kitty about what she did that week.
Pietro was still nowhere to be found, but Kitty didn't want to ask about it. She hated the fact that she was happy that Violette at least wasn't getting attention from him at the moment.
Pietro cursed Nick Fury silently, praying that it wouldn't finally be the day that he was found out. The news of his new mission came around four am but as always he was already up and getting ready for his morning practice after checking up on Luna. By five am he was waiting for the chopper at the meet up point, the black leather suit still feeling like a Wolverine costume on his body, even after the four months of using it.
It was a solo mission, which happened every now and again – usually it was him, Wanda and surprisingly Todd, since Freddy and Lance weren't really useful in stealthy recons. And to be honest Pietro liked it that way, that almost always there was a B-hood member watching over his daughter, keeping her safe. Fury even scheduled training sessions as a rotation of threes.
This week on Monday it was going to be Quicksilver, Blob and Avalanche, on Tuesday Blob, Avalanche and Toad, Wednesday Avalanche, Toad, and Scarlet Witch, Thursday Toad, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver, and on Friday Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Blob. Next week it will be completely different. Weekends mostly off, two week days completely off from official training, two weeks between training sessions in an identical squad, only once a month a training session for the entire Brotherhood. It kept them on their toes and helped them get more in tune with each other by being forced to work without some of the powers they would otherwise rely on. Pietro honestly never really tried to work together with anyone besides Wanda on the battlefield and now here he was, forced to rely on the pure brute forces of Freddy's muscles and Lance's earthquakes.
The chopper stopped a foot above the ground and Pietro climbed in with the help of Nick Fury's extended hand.
"Quicksilver" The man had half of a burning cigarette in his hand and flicked of the ash carelessly. "A quick recon. I want you in and out immediately. Map out the place. Most importantly" Fury reached in the bag next to him, taking out something that looked incredibly familiar to Pietro. "You have to wear this."
It was a helmet, similar to the one his father had.
"Telepaths?" He took the helmet and turned it over in his hands. "I hope I'm not breaking into Xavier's."
"No" Fury took a drag. Pietro's nose wrinkled at the smoke taking up the space of the closed chopper. "Actually, the info you're retrieving now will go to Xavier's after HQ's edit. This in an elitist mutant organization, targeting their own kind first and foremost."
Pietro didn't ask for more information, knowing he wouldn't be given any. Working for SHIELD meant not asking too many questions.
Lance felt incredibly tense watching Violette play with Luna. It was as if two different parts of his life collided. The last time Violette was a major part of his life they were all low-level criminals but they all had to change for the small human – probably mutant, but Luna didn't appear to have any powers for now – who still put everything in her mouth.
Todd grabbed a doll out of Violette's hand with his tongue, causing Luna to break into a fit of giggles.
Violette was still a picture of his past. Despite living in the fancy mansion she stayed the same – wearing thrift shop clothes, silently observing the B-hood before striking with a snappy comment. Luna on the other hand was a pristine dream in pastel, dotted on by everyone in the room because of her bright, bubbly self.
He used to think that Violette was destined to stay with them. The more he thought about it now, the more he couldn't believe how naive he was. They were a dead end for the girl, too angry and hurt to let her evolve. If it wasn't for Luna they'd still be giving Violette the silent treatment or worse, let her, Kitty and the X-geeks take on Apocalypse on their own.
Todd barely missed a small blue energy strike. Luna stared in awe at Violette's glowing fingertip.
He shuddered, his hand automatically closing tighter around his girlfriend's hip.
He wasn't going to lose Kitty again. He only just got her back.
It was already past four when he got back home. The recon itself was short, but the debriefing after took hours. He just wanted to take a shower and hug his daughter before collapsing on the floor.
He completely forgot that Violette would be there.
"Hi" She stood in the middle of their living room, delicately bouncing a napping Luna in her arms. "Lance and Kitty went to pick up some food. Are chicken nuggets okay with you?"
It like being transported into a bizarre alternate universe, one where nothing ever went to shit between them. He was at a loss for words, so he just nodded.
"Do you want her to come back?"
He quickly glanced at her before pulling into the Gut Bomb parking lot.
"What kind of a question is that?"
Kitty sighed, adjusting her ponytail.
"I mean, are you considering asking her to come back?"
"Of course not" Lance shrugged, picking a spot nearest the entrance. As soon as the brake was secure and the engine off he shifted to face her. "Besides, it's not like she'd want to."
Her gaze must have given her away, because Lance seemed to get that it wasn't the point.
"We all miss her sometimes, but I guess it must be the same thing you feel about your parents" He brushed her hair away, tucking it behind her ear. "We wouldn't want to go back to living with her. We've all gotten our lives together without each other. It's just nice to have her around every once in a while."
She could relate to that. She could understand that. Kitty took a deep breath and released it slowly.
"I hope their salads have gotten better."
"Me too Kitten, if only for your sake."
The moment Violette stepped back inside the mansion she was cornered by Tabitha.
"How is he doing?"
The younger girl seemed a bit remorseful about the way she treated Pietro. They both knew he was an asshole but being an asshole back never resolved any issues.
"Great, actually" She didn't mention Luna. It wasn't her business, after all. "They found a job with S.H.I.E.L.D. and are making a decent living now."
"I don't want to go back to how it was" Tabitha crossed her arms over her chest, sighing. "But I do still care, you know?"
Violette nodded, squeezing her shoulder before going upstairs.
"So, how was it?"
She expected him to be there when she opened the door to her room.
"Like any meeting involving a two year old. Full of saliva, toys and chicken nuggets" She shrugged, her arms looping around Kurt's neck. There was this weird feeling inside her chest, like a balance she didn't remember lacking was restored. "But I'll be back there soon so it couldn't have been that bad, right?"