Chapter Two


AN: I have made Marya Maximoff into the twins' birth mother rather than their adopted mother as in comics, because Magda, in the movies, was Nina's mother, and I couldn't twist canon believably to make her Wanda and Peter's mom as well.


Wanda followed Raven and Peter some distance from the school, marveling silently at the beautiful grounds, though she'd never have admitted as much. There were groups of younger students here and there, studying or playing, or just enjoying the sunny day, and the three of them were stared at but no-one came over to introduce themselves- possibly because of the stern look on Raven's face, and, Wanda suspected, on her own.

They reached a small man-made lake with a fallen tree on the far side, which had Wanda's attention for a minute- the tree had fallen oddly, the trunk totally split in two and lying opposite each other, with burn marks down the edges, as if it had been cut down by a laser.

She gestured at it, raising a brow at Raven. "Interesting foliage."

Peter snorted. Raven ignored him, addressing Wanda. "Charles- Professor Xavier- decided to leave that there as a reminder that even the best mutants have to learn control." She paused. "Plus, it was his grandfather's favourite tree."

Wanda stared at the sun-dappled water, distracted from her mood for a minute. "Control isn't always possible." Her voice was softer than usual, and she felt Peter's hand on her shoulder, his way of trying to reassure her. She shrugged it off, not in the mood to take comfort from him right now, not after his recent choices.

Raven's eyes narrowed, as she clearly read between the lines, but then she changed the subject. "Right, I brought you two out here so you can talk about your dad-"

"Don't call him that." Wanda snapped, cutting her off.

"-Talk about your father without anyone else hearing, but I want to make one thing clear to you right now, Wanda." Raven's eyes locked on hers. "I don't know you, and I have no idea what, if anything, you really know about Erik, but he's not as bad as you seem to think. Like Peter said, he's a complicated person, he's done good and bad things, and he has lost a hell of a lot the past few months, so you can keep your biases to yourself, got it?"

Wanda rolled her eyes but nodded. She wasn't here to fight with Raven, after all.

Raven glanced between her and Peter. "That said, I am curious about how and when he met your mom, if I'm honest."

"You never asked!" Peter blurted, sounding offended.

"That's because you never wanted to have a serious conversation about it," Raven retorted, before looking back at Wanda. "But Erik never mentioned anything about a Ms Maximoff, so..."

Wanda's fists clenched. I bet he didn't. "Marya. Her name's Marya, and they met after Russian soldiers liberated Auschwitz, on the journey to America..."


February, 1945

Marya huddled in her corner, arms wrapped round her knees, trying to ignore the noise of the ship's engines. They were going to a new life in America, that's what these Russian soldiers had said, but she wasn't sure she trusted them. The German soldiers had made nice promises too, at first, when she and her family were taken into the camp when she was thirteen. Then she'd been dragged away from her Mama and Papa, and her older brother Pietro, and she'd never seen them again. She'd been told she could work to earn her way out of the camp, as she was such a pretty girl, and foolishly she'd agreed, not realising until too late just what the Nazis wanted from her... She shuddered, hunching up even smaller to banish the memories. At least she had survived... so many hadn't.

Here on the ship, the Jews had been separated from the Romani survivors, supposedly so that the Roma didn't have to put up with their culture and traditions being ignored. It made sense, but Marya still hadn't told anyone she was Roma, too afraid of the beatings she'd endured from the Nazis who knew her secret. "Gypsy! Half-breed mongrel!" The words echoed in her mind and she shuddered. She was only half Roma anyway, and didn't look it, as her father had been Jewish and white. It didn't matter anyway, if she didn't follow the Romani culture any more- she had no family left to shun her. The thought made a tear roll down her face.

They were several weeks into the voyage now and most of the too-thin bedraggled survivors of Auschwitz had begun planning what they'd do when they reached America. Marya hadn't let herself think about it- she was just fifteen, had no money, no family and nowhere to go. Who cared what happened to her now?

Across the crowded room, soft cries came from one of the only passengers who was as withdrawn as Marya herself, a dark-haired pale skinned boy who looked about a year older than her. She had never seen him in the camp, but he'd been brought out of the Commandant's offices when the Russians tore Auschwitz open. He'd seemed petrified of everyone and everything, and that had not changed much. He kept to himself, never speaking, hardly eating, and (as far as Marya could tell) not sleeping either. At least not peacefully- he woke up screaming more often than not, if he slept at all. He'd had an outright panic attack when the doctor on the ship had tried to examine him, and he'd had to be sedated. Since then, he glared at anyone who even tried to go near him.

Marya listened to him having yet another nightmare, then glanced down at the pile of food she'd saved from each meal, a habit from the camp when food was rare. He hadn't eaten at all this journey that she'd seen... Coming to a decision, she gathered up her 'rations' and made her way over to him.

He lay in the throes of his bad dreams, tossing and turning and muttering in German. Marya steeled herself and shook his shoulder gently.

His eyes shot open and he surged forward, gripping her wrist tightly, his eyes wild. "Nein!"

Marya flinched, although she couldn't get away with him holding her like that. Her brown eyes met his blue ones, and she made herself hold his gaze. Eventually, his breathing slowed, becoming shaky, and his shoulders sagged. He let go of her, and she rubbed her aching wrist.

"What are you doing?" His eyes were narrowed, suspicious.

Marya bit her lip. "I've been s-saving food. I thought you might be hungry." She picked up the food she'd dropped and offered it to him tentatively, as one would approach a wild animal. "You haven't eaten much..." That was an understatement, as far as Marya could tell, he hadn't eaten anything, but she wasn't going to point that out- she'd hardly wanted to eat, either!

He took it, slowly, never taking his eyes off her, as if afraid of a trick or having it snatched back. "Thank you." The words were grudging, stilted.

Marya beamed, happy to have helped, even in this tiny way. "You're welcome."

Her parents had always said her smile was contagious, and they must have been right, because the boy's face softened a little.

Feeling braver, she took a chance. "I'm Marya. Marya Maximoff."

"...Erik Lehnsherr." He said it slowly, as if he hadn't used his own name for a long time. Perhaps he hadn't, Marya mused. The Nazis had tended to give people horrible nicknames, after all... She sat down carefully next to him, watching for any sign that he wanted her gone. He was eating now though, ravenously, so Marya assumed he didn't mind her staying nearby. It wasn't as if either of them had anyone else to think of.

"Maybe we can stay together, look out for each other." She offered tentatively.

Erik didn't respond, but his hand twitched towards hers, as if he wanted to take her hand but didn't dare. His brow furrowed, and a large screw in the nearby wall slid out of its place, falling near Erik's hand. Marya's eyes widened as it warped and twisted into a flower. Erik offered it to her, as if it were payment for the food. She picked it up and pocketed it, a bit shocked. How did he do that? She decided not to ask, though. It was an amazing trick!

Marya suppressed a smile. She had a friend now- sort of. Maybe America wouldn't be so bad, if she could be with Erik instead of being a young orphan girl all by herself...


Raven listened to Wanda's story, eyes widened slightly. "I've never heard any of this. I always assumed he was off hunting down his enemies as soon as he got to the States..."

Wanda snorted. "He might as well have. I know they got a tiny apartment together, and Mom says they were happy for a few years, but then it turned out he was trying to track down the Nazi who killed his parents. She says she kept trying to talk him out of it, but he was obsessed. One of his leads on the guy he was after broke into their home once, threatened Mom's life. She never said exactly what happened, just that Erik tortured and killed the intruder, I guess with his powers. Mom freaked, and that's when she began to realise how dangerous Erik really was. Eventually, he left her to go after this Shaw guy, and never came back."

"And of course, it was only after that that Mom found out she was having us." Peter input.

Raven looked close to tears for a second. "Oh, Erik..." Her words were barely audible. She shook her head. "He could have had a family so much sooner..."

Wanda arched a brow. "What?"

Peter cleared his throat. "Yeah. Turns out this past decade, while he was MIA, he had another family, in Poland. He was married, and they had a little girl."

Wanda jumped. "We have another sibling?!"

Peter looked at the floor, scuffing his shoe. Raven shook her head. "No. She and her mom were killed in an accident."

Tears pricked Wanda's eyes despite her determination to not feel sorry for Erik. "That's awful."

Peter nodded, then cleared his throat again. "Yeah. That's why I haven't told him about me- us- yet, too soon." He sighed. "But Wanda, I still think you should stay here. This place... it's great. And the Prof might be able to help you finally get a grip on your powers, if..."

Raven looked at Wanda curiously. "So you have control issues? What are your powers? I thought it looked like telekinesis, am I wrong?"

"It's not telekinesis." A cheerful male voice with a British accent interrupted. Wanda looked up to see a bald man in a wheelchair coming towards them, smiling warmly at her, looking fascinated. "Wanda here somehow has the ability to affect probability itself around her, making anything she imagines possible. It's incredible."

Wanda's eyes narrowed. This must be Xavier. "Stay out of my head."

"I apologise, Wanda. But I was reading Peter's thoughts, not yours. He's terrible at keeping his thoughts quiet, you see."

Wanda huffed, not sure she bought that, but letting it go.

"In any case, he's right. I may be able to help you, if you agree to stay. And you won't be forced to deal with... any other issues if you don't want to."

Wanda considered. It would be good to not have to worry about whether or not she'd used her powers unknowingly to alter things in her favour, to not be on her guard all the time, and if she wasn't going to be forced to deal with the Erik thing... "Alright, I'll stay for now, on two conditions. One, I don't want the whole school knowing who Erik is to us. And two, if he does turn up, I don't want anything to do with him."

Peter opened his mouth to protest. She waved him off. "You can do what you want, it's up to you. You'll ignore me anyway, we both know that. Just don't drag me into it." If she was honest, hearing that Erik had had another family, a child, cast doubts on what she'd believed. Did out-and-out monsters have families that they loved and grieved the loss of? Maybe he had changed, or wasn't as bad as Mom believed...

Xavier nodded slowly, and Wanda had no idea if he was agreeing with her words or her thoughts. That was kind of creepy...

"We have a deal." Xavier smiled. "I hope you'll like it here, Wanda. And feel free to call me Charles- your brother does."

Peter grinned, zipping over to Wanda in a blur. "Come on! We'll go find you a room!"

Wanda narrowed her eyes. "Peter, don't-"

He'd picked her up and zoomed off, carrying her, before she could finish telling him not to.

Raven shook her head slightly. "Are you sure about this, Charles? She has a serious problem with Erik, and you know he could drop in any day. And if her powers are what you say, she could be seriously dangerous..."

"I know." Charles said softly. "But honestly, Raven, intense loyalty to her mother, anger issues, a problem with controlling her powers... does she remind you of anyone?"

Raven sighed. "You see Erik in her."

"She's far more like him than Peter is. And I do not want her to go through the same problems he did because she can't let go of her anger." Charles stared in the direction the twins had gone. "I got through to Erik in the end. I have to believe I can reach his daughter too."

To be continued...