Notes: I... seriously fail. I was trying to get these few chapters beta'd, but I fail at constant communication. So, this chapter is currently unbeta'd. I will go back to edit it, but I thought it was a bit unfair to leave you guys hanging (especially if I set my own goals myself). So, thanks to the constant readers (and reviewers, and lurkers). I'm open to any suggestion/feedback.

And... here's the new chap (of the new year, woo)!

Blackbird

Chapter 3: Panic

When Mystique came back to take full control of the Brotherhood (again), Wanda really didn't mind. There was enough food for them to eat monthly, the boarding house finally got it's repairs, and Mystique even gave the group a small allowance every week. Plus, she now had something to do.

Like reading this survival manual lying on her bed. It was something Mystique gave all the Brotherhood members for their basic training. They would all read this, show her in some form or another that they can apply what they've learned from the novel into their lives, then they can go on to learn other useful things. Wanda took a look at it and realized that she actually knew about some of the things that the manual was telling her.

Like the fact that fire can purify water. It was something that Agatha Harkness taught her a while ago. She even knew how to start one without using her powers. Agatha had also taught her a few spells that would get some water from plants, the ground and other areas. She did need to know that first aid training though. Maybe she could even go to one of those Red Cross places. They taught first aid and CPR. And she did have enough money to pay for it.

The knock on her door pulled Wanda from her thoughts. The door opened a fraction and Wanda saw her brother peak a head in.

"Wanda?"

She raised an eyebrow in question and waited for her brother to continue.

"Uh, we got food," he finished lamely.

Wanda gave him a glare, expecting to be some type of drawback from this. But her twin just stared back, looking as innocent as a man like him could look. Wanda sighed. She could wait until later, Pietro would save some food for her if she asked.

"There's potato salad," he added, with a nervous smile.

It was a silent plea for her to come down. To join them. She looked at her brother carefully. It didn't look like he was lying to her, but then again, he was a good liar. Pietro sat down in front of her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's just food, Wanda," he assured her, "just eat then leave."

Wanda hesitated, then nodded.

The boys really weren't doing anything special. Which was saying a lot, considering who they were. They were just talking. Like civilized people. Insane. Lance, Todd, and Fred were sitting in a semi-circle, eating pizza and watching some program on TV. Wanda paused by the doorway for a moment. She really couldn't remember a time when they were all together like this. They looked... normal. Wanda almost smiled at the sight.

A hand on her shoulder blade brought Wanda's attention to Pietro. She repeated his words in her head. It's just food. Just eat then leave.

It wasn't, and she knew it, but the words helped. She took a step into the room then sat next to Lance. Her brother sat right next to her. The boys were looking at her, waiting for her next move. Wanda shifted a bit to get comfortable then took a good look at the food laid out in front of her. There was pizza, chips, wings and other various things. Wanda frowned; there wasn't any potato salad though. She looked over at her brother but before she could voice her thoughts, Pietro nodded his head to Lance.

Lance held out a small container to Wanda. She stared at it for a moment then took it. It was cold and taped on one of the sides. Slowly, she opened the container. It looked like potato salad. A spoon was handed to her. She took a bite. Then closed her eyes and smiled. It was potato salad the way she liked it. From her right, she heard Pietro's sigh of relief.

OoOoO

"You are capable of doing a lot, Wanda."

Wanda looked at her mentor, with something of an exasperated look on her face. Of course she was capable of doing a lot, she wasn't stupid. She nodded her head regardless of her thoughts. She also knew that she was the only thing holding her back. Agatha gave her a knowing look and nodded her head. Her way of saying their lesson was over.

Wanda sat down, tired. The grass she was sitting on was still wet with rain. Even after the rainstorm that brought Wanda to the X-Men's home, a few more showers followed the days after. Wanda wasn't even sure that there was a day where the sun shone for longer than an hour.

She looked around, realizing that Agatha had already left. Wanda honestly didn't know if there was a time when she actually saw the woman leaving.

Wanda sighed as she held her hands out in front of her. Her hand gestures were only used for concentration, according to Agatha. Her actual powers came from her mind. She stretched her fingers and watched as little blue bolts of blue energy flickered between them. If this was true then maybe the day she finally bypassed this little weakness, she would finally see just what exactly she was capable of.

Her hands were starting to glow with energy now. What exactly would she even do with those types of powers. She didn't have her brother's type of personality, so she wasn't big on pulling pranks, and she wasn't anything like her father, so there was no big agenda. She was pretty useless without a purpose. Wanda frowned and clenched her hands, the glowing blue energy disappearing completely. Slowly she stood up and looked around her.

She was in the woods for training this time, and she set her red jacket at the base of one of the trees in case she forgot which way she was supposed to go home. Which she did. But that wasn't what was bothering her. There was someone else lurking about in the woods, and wasn't some type of wood animal. She narrowed her eyes and looked around her.

Trees were surrounding her completely, and shadows were covering the areas between them. So there was no way she would be able to see anything. She closed her eyes and took in a slow breath. She ran a hand through her hair and listened.

Footfalls.

Wanda frowned and opened her eyes, her trench coat was on her right and the sound was coming from her left. She took another slow breath. She was just being paranoid. Other people walked through the woods, there were animals lurking in these parts; it was probably nothing. She walked over to grab her coat and then continued walking. She put on her jacket and increased her pace. Then she started running. Wanda convinced herself that it wasn't paranoia or fear that was making her run, but she her need for exercise. There was probably still some adrenaline rushing through her body.

She finally made it to the street at the end of the woods. Luckily there wasn't any cars rushing through them so she continued on to the other side. She slowed down and started walking along the road as she caught her breath. She looked over at the woods as she continued on.

There was nothing there.

She shook her head and continued walking. Of course there wouldn't be anything there. The was never anything there. But every time she was alone, she could have sworn that there was somebody there watching her. It felt like somebody was just watching her, biding their time so that one day they could just snatch her or something. Considering what happened with the sentinels, that outcome wasn't too far outside the realm of reality.

Her feet sloshed a bit as she walked through some mud. That uncontrollable fear started up again. She didn't want to be held in any type of jail. Where they would do experiments on her, just to satisfy their curiosity. She didn't want to be locked up in any type of facility. She didn't know what they did in there but it didn't take a genius to know that those places were bad. Wanda resisted the urge to hug herself. She was still out in public and people could be watching.

When Wanda finally made it home, she was greeted by Toad. With a disgusted frown, she sent him outside the window where he landed in a puddle. Wanda clutched her head, feeling a headache coming on. From the corner of her eye, she could see her brother's concerned look from the corner of her eye before she turned away. Wanda gritted her teeth as she slowly made her way up the stairs.

This wasn't a headache.

Wanda shook her head in an attempt to banish the pain, but it only brought a weird feeling of vertigo. She crouched down at the top of the steps, using both hands to clench her head.

"Wanda?"

Through blurry eyes, she could see her brother kneeling in front of her with a worried expression. She didn't miss the look of guilt that quickly passed his face. She glared at him and pushed him away, her powers amplifying the force. She let out a pained groan before she tried standing up again.

"Wanda, please. Calm down." It was Pietro again.

She gritted her teeth again, this time in anger. Calm down?

The lights in the hallway started to flicker and Wanda could hear the sounds of the boys downstairs shouting. She leaned back against the wall, trying to take her brother's advise and calm herself. She felt his hands on her shoulders and strangely enough, Wanda felt a bit calmer. She shook her head again in an another attempt to clear it. She opened her eyes and locked eyes with her brother.

"It's okay, Wanda," Pietro whispered, "you're okay."

She let out a sigh and the lights stopped flickering. She could still hear the boys swearing downstairs.

"It's okay," Pietro repeated, "I'm here. I won't leave you."

There it was again. That look of guilt. Wanda narrowed her eyes at him. He knew what was wrong with her, didn't he? She pushed him away from her and Pietro released his grip on her shoulder in surprise. She pushed him again, this time down the stairs. The other boys came rushing to the stairway to see what all the commotion was about. Wanda sent a cold glare at Pietro, who was laying on the bottom of the staircase in shock. There was a throbbing pain in her head but this time, the anger was pushing through the pain.

"Woah, Wanda! What's going on?" It was Lance with a nervous expression on his face. Blob was standing behind him, just as scared as him with Toad somehow making it onto his shoulder. She regained her balance and focused her attention on her twin. He looked more terrified than any of the men there.

Wanda slowly made her way down the stairs and almost simultaneously, all of the boys moved back. All except Pietro. She narrowed her eyes at him, not really knowing where all of this hostility was coming from. She stopped right in front of him and stared him down.

Things didn't feel right; she didn't feel right.

She stepped past him and made her way out of the boarding house. She just needed to get away from there. From people. From her brother. There air outside was getting colder, but it was still daytime. She didn't want to go down to the warehouse, in case it rained again. She didn't want to go to the park, there were too many people there. Wanda sighed, she couldn't even go back into the woods. There were people there too.

So she continued to just walk, letting the wind caress and and calm her. The throbbing pain was slowly dissipating, and that strange sense of panic was slowly leaving her.

She felt empty... dark. There really wasn't a proper way to explain it. It was like everything was wrong, but she could even remember what it was. She slowed her walking to a light pace, and looked down at the ground. There was something missing, but not? It was confusing. She was confused. And she just couldn't trust anybody well enough to tell them about it.

Wanda swallowed and slowed her pace to a stop. She shoved her hands into her pockets to prevent herself from hugging herself. She furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't even know if the hugging herself thing had to do with her problems as well. Wanda looked up at the sky, wanting more than anything to cry out. Maybe she was over thinking things. Maybe all of this fear and paranoia was coming out of nowhere.

Wanda looked down again, turned around, and started walking back. Whatever the source of all of this was, she had to find a way to get rid of it. There was a big possibility that she would just kill all of her roommates one day if she didn't.

OoOoO

Pietro sat on the steps of the porch, waiting for Wanda to return. He didn't know what was going on with his sister, but what ever it was, it was obvious it wasn't good. The look in her eyes... it was just like the Wanda he saw when she first came here.

He knew that something like this would probably happen; Wanda going batshit. Magneto was a smart man, but when it came to cutting those loose ends, he was pretty much the biggest dumbass to walk this earth. Pietro sighed. It was for her own good though, she was going to kill Magneto. She was going to kill him. They had to do something to stop her.

It was no secret that Magneto favored Wanda more than Pietro. And even with all of the experiments conducted on Pietro, he still wouldn't make his father proud like he made Wanda proud. Wanda's powers came naturally, without Magneto's aid. Pietro was really the second best, he knew that, he wasn't going to challenge that.

But Wanda had potential. Not just to be a powerful mutant. But to be normal girl, a happy one. His sister was basically the shining light of the family. She kind of stood for all of the good things that would happen in the family. Until she started rebelling against Magneto. Magneto couldn't control her then, so he had to send her away. She was dangerous. Pietro bit his lip. No she wasn't. She had the potential to be dangerous. But only to Magneto.

Pietro closed his eyes. He felt guilt. But not for letting Wanda have her memories wiped. And not even for letting her get sent to the asylum. But he knew that maybe, there was a way he could have stopped any of this from happening in the first place. Maybe then, he would have had his sister back then, instead of having a shell of one now.

There was also that small amount of satisfaction in knowing that Magneto held on to Pietro longer than Wanda. It was a sick feeling, but it was there nonetheless. Wanda would always be the favorite, but Magneto kept Pietro longer. There was something wrong with him.

Pietro ran a hand through his hair, frowning. It still wasn't right though, was it? Now Wanda was slowly regaining her memories. He could have ignored it before, saying that it was all just due to stress or some shit.

Pietro stood up and went back inside the boarding house. Last thing Wanda needed to see was Pietro's face. He slipped inside his room and laid face up on his bed. Wanda real memories were mostly likely wanting out. And now there was a bigger chance of her becoming more fucked up then she did back then.

He stared up at the ceiling. He wasn't able to help her back then. He didn't bother righting his wrongs when he was given the chance. And now there was an opening just there for him. He could help his sister, make things right again.

And he didn't know what to do.