The entire ride back to the Brotherhood House was silent, me not daring to say a word and ruin anything and Wanda refusing to acknowledge anyone's presence; especially mine. When we got there, Wanda went straight up the stairs and to her room, shutting the door before I could even make it in the house. I left out a sigh and felt my shoulders droop but then I felt a hand gently touch me from behind. "You don't have t' stay you know," I told Tabby. "You probably have much better things to do than baby sit me, yo."
"Normally I would stay, ya know I like hanging out here with you, but Logan made it really clear that I was just supposed to drop you off, return the car, then come back.
"'S'all good, yo," I told her with a half hearted grin. "Thanks for helpin' me with the rescue team." She smiled at me and shrugged her shoulders.
"Anytime! Whenever you feel like charging head first into a battle with no plan and no back up, count me in!" I smiled a bit at that, and she winked at me. Then she continued on a more serious note. "Slick, y'know I'll have your back for you, right?" I nodded at her.
""N you know I'd do the same for you Tabs. I owe you big on this one." A flash of guilt lit her eyes and she looked away. I knew what she was thinking, and took her hand. "Hey, it's not your fault. You did the right thing, yo. You did lots of right things. Wanda deserved to know the truth, 'n you were the only one brave enough to tell her. She'll thank you…someday. In her own way. 'N I'm thanking you right now." She was about to give me some kind of reply when Rogue pulled up in a car and yelled for her to get in.
"Gotta go. Hey stay outta trouble for a while, will ya?" she shouted as she jumped in with Rogue and took off. Yeah, stay out of trouble. That would be really easy for me, especially since things were dead silent from then on out.
Weeks passed without a word from Wanda, just the glimpse of her fleeing the room as soon as I entered it. Pietro took off as soon as he realized she had regained her memories, and she refused to talk to anyone else for any reason. Weeks turned into a month, then two and still nothing from her. Eventually we had to run into each other, since we both still lived in the same house, but it came much later than I wanted it to. She was sitting at the decrepit table, staring out the glass of the kitchen window when I walked in, looking for something to eat. We both froze for a minute, locking eyes and not daring to breathe, until she broke it my looking down and standing up.
"Wanda, wait," I said, putting myself intentionally in her way and blocking the doorway. Usually this would merit some sort of hex sending me flying out of her way and into the opposite room, but she hadn't so much as glanced at me since the rescue mission, let alone used her powers on me. Instead she scowled deeply at my intrusion but stopped a few feet away. She raised one eyebrow at me, asking what the hell I thought I was doing. At that point not even I was sure what I was doing, I just knew that I had to talk to her, had to say something. "Wanda…I…I. Look, I uh, I'm sorry if I upset you. 'N I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Magneto earlier. 'N I'm sorry that I let you go alone…'n, well I'm sorry for anything else you might be mad at me for too." Wanda crossed her arms and continued to stare me down.
"Are you finished?" she asked. I sighed and sagged in defeat.
"Yeah, I guess…well, actually no, I'm not. Wanda, if I did somethin' wrong ya gotta let me know! 'N I can't let us go another two or three months or however long without talking. Please, jus' tell me what I did."
"You stood in my way when I was trying to leave the kitchen," she replied in a low and angry voice, but I wasn't having any of her shit today.
"Wanda, c'mon, please. I'm not askin' for your deepest secret or anythin', I just wanna know why you're mad at me. Jus' tell me, then I'll leave you alone." She scowled even deeper at me and looked past me through the door.
"Hey, I've got places to be. I don't have time for this." I don't know why I always double my output of stupid when I'm around her, but for some reason I reached my hand out and touched her arm. Instantly I was shot out of the kitchen, across the hall and crashing through the T.V and into the wall. My ears rang and my eyes swam, and it took me a minute to remember which way was up. It had been a while since she'd hexed me that hard and I had forgotten how to recover quickly. By the time I did she was already upstairs and in her room with the door slammed shut. A second later loud music was blasting from her lair, letting the world know she was shutting it out and unavailable until she said otherwise.
"Great," I muttered, rubbing my hand and pulling myself out of the wreckage. The other boys were gonna kill me for ruining the T.V. I decided to lay on the couch, at least until the room stopped spinning, just to pull myself together and figure out if anything major was hurt. Luckily it was just bumps and bruises, along with a killer headache. I massaged my temples, attempting to get the ringing to recede, and trying to figure what I had done this time to get her so angry. True, Wanda was a very independent woman, but did that mean she would hold such a terrifying grudge against me for saving her life? I guess my head must have hurt more than I realized because when I tried to stand, the pounding went into double time and my vision turned black and swayed side to side. "Whoa." I sat back down, putting a hand to my forehead and leaning back. I realized I should stay there for a while, and did so.
I must have dozed off at one point, because when I opened my eyes next the room was dark. I blinked a few times, trying to collect myself and figure out what time it was when something moved in the darkness, just at the other end of the couch. I let out a squeal of surprise, jumping up and behind the couch, or attempting to. I had forgotten about my earlier injuries and ended up flat on my back staring at the stars that my vision painted on the ceiling.
"Toad! Are you alright? I didn't mean to scare you, I just…..are you ok?" she asked, coming to crouch by my head.
"W-Wanda?" I asked groggily, squinting my eyes at her to try and make her form hold still. "What're you doin' out here? What time is it?"
"It's…" she glanced at the clock above what used to be a mantle then back to me. "A little after 2 am." She conveniently forgot to answer my other question. I tried to sit up and let out a groan. "Maybe you should hold still," she said cautiously.
"Na, I'll be fine, yo. I've had worse." She gave me one last look before standing and taking a step back.
"I better get to bed, it's late-" she started.
"No, wait. Please. You came down from somethin'. What did you need?"
"I just…" she sighed and rolled her eyes before leaning against the same arm of the couch that I had just brilliantly fallen over. "I guess I just…I don't know. Wanted to see if you were…ok." She looked away from me and stared off into the darkness.
"I thought you were mad at me," I said while pulling myself up. She helped me get back into a sitting position on the couch, then sat at the other end, as far away from me as she could. Still, at least she was on the same couch as I was.
"No, Toad, I wasn't mad at you. It's…ah, never mind."
"No, Wanda, please. I want to know. What is it I did?" She looked at me then, really looked at me, before closing her eyes and looking away.
"It wasn't what you did Toad, not like that. I'm just…I don't know. Now I have all of these thoughts, all of these memories, and I know which ones are real, but the others are there too. It's confusing. And I have all of this anger built up side me, all towards a man that just months ago I thought loved me and cared for me. I guess I'm just…lost."
"Wanda, I'm so sorry-"
"Ugh, I didn't come down here for your pity! You're ok, right? Good. Now I'm going to bed." I guess I didn't learn my lesson just hours before, because as she stood my arm reached out and I grabbed her wrist to try to keep her from leaving.
"Wait, I didn't mean to upset you," I told her in a rush, but even as the words spilled out of my mouth her opposite and very free hand glowed an ominous sapphire which cast a blue light on both of us in the dark room. I held perfectly still, looking up into her eyes and embracing myself for the worst. She held just as still for a moment, looking down at me straight into my eyes. After a few seconds of this, she let the tension flow away from her and the blue light went out as she pulled herself gently out of my grasp.
"Goodnight Toad," she said in dismissal and made her way up the stairs. I watched her go with wide eyes, begging her silently to come back but knowing she wouldn't at the same time. I heard the door slam again and knew she was out of reach once more, leaving me alone with my thoughts. What had made her come down in the first place? Was it really just to see if I was ok? That didn't sound like Wanda at all, she didn't give a fuck whether I was breathing or not. She must have been telling the truth when she said she was confused. She must have been dealing with a lot, but I had no idea what it was since she refused to talk to anyone about what had transpired between her and Magneto not too long ago. All I knew was that it was big, he was still alive, and that no matter how much she hid from it, he was definitely going to come back for her. Only this time, I wouldn't let her go alone. This time, I'd be ready.