10. Lorna II

Lorna had a plan. Was it a good plan? Probably not. Did she have a better one? No. No, she did not. But Wanda was still having nightmares. Strange ones. Sometimes, Lorna had them, too. She was Wanda in her dreams. And she just KNEW those weren't her nightmares. Whatever Wanda's powers were, there was definitely telepathy involved.

That much was rather obvious. Wanda often knew when people were lying or if someone wasn't feeling well. And honestly, that could be such a cool power! If only Wanda would use it. Train with it. Maybe then she would stop projecting her nightmares, too. Which would be a bonus. But how to go about it? How to get Wanda to practice? She had tried and Wanda had rebuffed her. So far, her Dad didn't seem inclined to push Wanda, either.

Her Mom? Probably a dead end. Mom hardly ever used her own powers, which was a bummer, because Lorna strongly suspected her Mom could kick some serious butt.

That left Peter.

"Pete?", Lorna asked, sneaking up behind her brother, who was playing some weird arcade game he had bought with his allowance. He'd had it delivered and shown the receipt to their parents as proof. All proud. Sometimes Lorna was allowed to play, too. Peter would always leave his door open a bit, when he didn't mind Lorna just wandering in. Peter was amazing like that.

"Yeah?"

"Do you get Wanda's nightmares?"

Peter froze. Straight up froze. Lost his game and everything.

"No. I don't. Why do you ask?"

"Because I do."

Peter turned around to look at her, eyes narrowed, "How do you know?"

"Because people call me Wanda, I have her powers and when I look in a mirror, I see her face?"

"What do you mean, you have her powers?"

"I kinda know what people think. I can like… do stuff with my hands? Move things. Make people see things. Do things."

"That doesn't sound like Wanda… she can't make people do things."

"How would you know? She doesn't ever show anyone what she can do. Or talk about it."

"Because I grew up with her?"

"Powers grow. And she wasn't Wanda for a while, before she was gone, right?"

"You honestly think she can control people?"

"I don't know. But in her nightmares she can."

"Why do you get her nightmares and I don't?"

"Maybe your brain is too weird."

"Like yours is normal.", Peter huffed and Lorna cuffed him on the head.

"Maybe you are too fast. Can Dad's telepathic friend read your mind?"

"I don't know. Maybe I should ask him."

"Mh. Maybe. I don't know. Dad says they are friends, but you said, he punched him."

"Yeah, he's a bit intense. But so is Dad. I feel like he wouldn't be friends with normal folks."

"He's been trying with Gertie's parents!"

"By trying, you mean he learned their names, right?"

"Well… yeah. But Pete, we need to try and get Wanda to train with her powers."

"I agree. At some point she's going to explode, and I don't want to be next to her, when that happens.", Peter shivered.

"So… how do we do it?"

"We could annoy her until she breaks."

"How likely is it that you survive that?"

"Me?!"

"Who is more annoying here, Pete?"

"Why are you so mean? Who hurt you?"

"Wanda says it's because Mom's a little mean."

"Your Mom isn't mean!"

"Eh. I don't know. She can be. You just don't see it, because you are a little Mama's boy and want her to like you."

"Lorna! That's mean again!"

"This time it was on purpose."

"And that's why YOU are more likely to get Wanda to use her powers. So she can shut you up for once!"

"And you call me mean?!"

"Yes!"

"This isn't helping. We need a plan. A plan to annoy Wanda, not each other.", Lorna tried to start again, "Focus, Peter, focus."

"I have never been able to focus on command in my whole life!"

"If we annoy Wanda into using her powers… will she want to train so it won't happen again or will we traumatize her more? We need to be sure here. If we mess this up, we are dead."

"Probably literally."

"Huh. But we need to do SOMETHING."

"She can't keep it in forever anyway. She WILL explode at some point."

"But what's better? Now or later when it's big?"

"Mh. We could watch her and then make a real plan. Let's give her until the new year to settle in. Then we'll start pestering her."

"Why until then? That's a whole ass month."

"Because I want to experience at least one Christmas, before Wanda kills either of us."

"Fair."

It turned out, they didn't make it to Christmas. Only two days left until the school holidays started and the moment Lorna woke up on that Thursday morning, she knew something was wrong. She could feel the negative energy permeating through the whole house.

Mh.

Lorna was the first of her siblings to get up and get dressed. When she made it down to the kitchen, Mom was already there, looking bigger than she had any business looking, honestly.

"Dad already outside?"

"No, Darling, your father isn't feeling well. I'm sure you guys can run without him."

Dad was sick? Dad never got sick.

"Hey, where's Dad?", Peter appeared.

"In bed. He's not feeling well.", Mom repeated.

"Dad never gets sick.", Lorna said, this time out loud, "Is he okay?"

"Just a little under the weather.", Mom sighed, "So I'm giving you the option of running without him or just skipping today, okay?"

"He's been a bit off lately.", Peter admitted with a shrug.

"The only time I EVER remember Dad being sick was…", Lorna stopped right in the middle of her thought. Last year. Shortly before Christmas. That was… suspicious. Very suspicious.

Wanda staggered into the kitchen, looking decidedly unhappy.

"Morning, Dear. You okay?", Mom frowned.

"Tired."

"Bad dreams?"

"No."

Oooookay, Wanda was in a mood.

"Let's go then! Half an hour, we can do it.", Peter grinned, the fake cheer in his voice even annoying Lorna a little.

Wanda looked ready to murder him.

"So you can hide in a bush? Because Dad isn't there to feel you doing it? No, thank you."

"I won't! I've already gotten faster. I'm not stopping this now."

"I'm coming, too!", Lorna declared, "I want an A in PE."

"Fine.", Wanda grumbled.

There hadn't been any more snowfall during the night, so at least the path Dad and the tractor had cleared the day before was still usable.

20 minutes in, Lorna was feeling good. It had only been three weeks, but honestly? The routine was nice, the air fresh… and she slept better at night. Peter was causing his usual draft and Wanda was still struggling, but getting better. At least Lorna thought so. She still walked more than she ran, but that was what training was for, after all.

"You okay?", Lorna asked, as she found Wanda leaning against a tree, looking shaky.

"No, not really."

"Anything I can do?"

"Yeah. Let me be."

"Wow. Okay."

The next time she reached Wanda, Peter stopped, too.

"Wanda, you look like shit."

"Shut up, Peter."

"Maybe we should go inside?", Lorna asked, nervously chewing the inside of her cheek, "Wanda, if you are sick…"

"I'm not sick! And inside is worse, okay?"

It clicked then, for Lorna: "It's not you, it's Dad! He feels like crap. I KNEW there was something telepathic about you!"

"Urgh.", Wanda didn't even deny it.

"It's so much. Too much.", she groaned.

"Dad isn't really sick, is he?", Lorna asked, "It's something else."

"I don't want this.", Wanda heaved, "Make it stop!"

"How? What can we do?", Peter moved forward to touch Wanda's arm, as she slumped over a little.

"No touching!", she yelled, her body suddenly encased in vibrant red light. Peter flew backwards and hit a nearby tree with the most sickening crunch Lorna had ever heard. The trunk cracked and started to topple over, as Fenrir broke through the snow, clamping his mouth around Peter's arm and dragging him out of the way.

Everything happened so fast, Lorna just stood there, terrified.

Blood. There was blood in the snow around Peter.

Wanda screamed, fell to the ground. Started rocking back and forth. Mumbling.

Lorna still stood there.

Fenrir raised his head and howled. A long, drawn out sound that vibrated through every cell of Lorna's body. It was the first time Lorna ever heard him make a sound.

"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.", Wanda started mumbling over and over. The pool of blood around Peter grew bigger, melting the snow.

"Pete!", Lorna finally unfroze, falling to the ground next to her brother. She pulled his upper body onto her lap, trying desperately to find what was wrong. His eyes were open. He was looking at her, but… he didn't see her.

"Peter!", she tried again. He wasn't breathing. Nothing, "Pete! Please!"

Dad appeared on the path, barefoot and only in his pajamas. He didn't even slow down, instead he almost barreled into Lorna.

"Peter! Lorna, baby, let me see him."

But Lorna couldn't let go. She couldn't let go.

"He's dead. He's dead.", Wanda was still rocking back and forth, "He's dead."

Dad had gone white as a sheet. His hands flying over Peter's chest and neck.

"Dad? Dad, he can't be gone. Please, Dad!", Lorna started crying. He couldn't be. Not Peter. Not ever. Not her big brother.

It was all her fault. She had said they needed to annoy Wanda. She had done it. All her fault. All her fault.

Mom finally arrived next to them. Out of breath and shaky. Fenrir trotted over, curling himself around Wanda, as if to keep her warm and safe.

"Ida.", Dad reached for Mom's arm, as she sank to the floor, "Ida, he's gone. He's…"

"No. He's not."

Mum leaned forward across Peter and put her hand on his chest. Her eyes started to glow. The same strange golden that happened when Mom healed her. Could she do this? Could she heal the dead?

Peter's whole body started glowing. All around them, the blood retreated. Back into Peter's body. Snow reappeared where it had melted. All Lorna could hear was Wanda's mumbling and her own blood thumping in her ears.

Please. Please. Please.

Peter started breathing.

With one very shaky, drawn-out breath, he opened his eyes and stared at them.

"What the fuck happened?"

"Oh, thank God!", Lorna yelled, almost wrapping herself around Peter in an attempt to hug him with his head still in her lap.

Dad started patting Peter's chest, tears in his eyes. As if he wanted to hug him but didn't know how.

Mom's eyes were still glowing, her expression unreadable.

"Mom? You did it, Mom!", Lorna laughed, "Mom look!"

Mom shook herself, closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they were green.

"Wanda? Wanda! Are you okay? What happened? Why am I on the floor?", Peter sat up, disentangling himself from Lorna and Dad, who patted him one more time and then walked over to Wanda.

"Liebes? Peter is alright. Can you look at me?"

"I killed him. I killed him. I didn't mean to!"

"I'm not dead, though."

"You were.", Lorna told him, feeling the truth of it settle in, "You were DEAD. You died on me, you stupid asshole!"

"I was?", Peter looked perplexed, "Did you heal me again, Ida?"

"I did. Yes.", Mom groaned and tried to get up. Peter was quicker, though, and pulled her up, "Why is moving THIS hard?"

"Because you don't like exercise?", Lorna shrugged.

"Mean.", Peter scolded.

"Are we good?", Dad looked Mom all over, sitting on the ground and holding Wanda in his arms.

"All good.", Mom nodded, "Peter, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Getting down and you telling us Dad wasn't coming for a run."

"Only overdid it a little then. All good."

"Why does healing affect my memory?"

"It doesn't. Let's… later.", Mom sighed, still holding on to Peter's hand. Lorna wanted to do that, too. Hold on and never let go. She grabbed Peter's other hand with both of hers.

"Erik, how is Wanda?"

"In shock.", Dad sighed, "I've got her."

He lifted poor Wanda into his arms, and together they walked back to the house. Peter, funnily enough, the only one that didn't look terrified.

"Upstairs?", Dad asked, when they made it to the kitchen.

"No. Best put her in our bed. I don't think anyone will want to be alone today."

Lorna wholeheartedly agreed. When Dad carefully put Wanda down in the middle of the bed and covered her with one of the blankets, Lorna slipped in next to her, snuggling into her side.

"I killed Peter.", Wanda told her, sobbing a little.

"Peter is over there, looking worried. See?", Lorna tried to comfort her. On cue, Peter took the other side of the bed. Throwing his arms around Wanda, too.

Both Mom and Dad looked a little forlorn, before Dad shrugged and said, "Good thing we have a big bed."

Which was how the five of them found themselves together in bed, huddled under several blankets. Then Fenrir took up the bed's foot end, too.

"It's a bit ridiculous, right?", Peter chuckled softly.

"Knowing you are all safe and right here is not ridiculous.", Dad yawned, "Not at all."

He demonstratively threw an arm around Peter.

"What happened today, guys?", Mom asked quietly.

"I killed Peter.", Wanda said, like it was a mantra.

"And how did that happen?", Dad followed up.

"I don't remember.", Peter shrugged.

"I lost control.", Wanda explained, "It was all too much."

"What was too much, Liebes?"

Wanda didn't reply for a solid three minutes.

"I've been feeling it for days. It just got worse every day. And then it became too much."

"What did you feel?", Lorna feared she already knew the answer.

"Grief. Loss. Anger. So, so much."

"Me. You've been feeling me.", Dad's voice was hoarse and grim.

"Yeah."

"Today would have been Anya's 23rd birthday. December is a tough time for me. I'm sorry, Wanda. I didn't know you were telepathic."

"I only get an impression. An imprint. Not… what you feel. How do you bear it, Dad?"

"I didn't. When Anya died, I… I knew about loss and grief, but losing Anya… that was different."

"You can tell us, Dad. We'll listen."

"Lorna, I don't think you really want to know this… it's not pretty."

"But she was my sister and you are my Dad. I want to know. Please. Tell us."

"It's not one moment. It's not a wound that gets better. I was someone's father and then, suddenly, I wasn't. But you don't stop being a parent. Not really. Or at least not for me. I wasn't childless, I was a father without a child. And it just didn't get better. I would hear someone yell Papa, and I'd turn around. Then I'd remember that I was no one's Papa anymore. No one would call me Papa ever again. I'd go into a shop, see plums, and think Better bring some. They are Anya's favorites. Every time I went outside, I'd feel like dying. In the end, I decided to go on a Nazi Hunt. Tried to become a completely new man. Not someone that would see a random child on the streets and start crying. I became angry. Anger is much easier. And when that didn't work, I became Magneto. Or I tried to. Spending ten years on my own with my memories… that gave me some time to process."

"You're not childless anymore.", Lorna mumbled into her sweater, "That's good, right?"

"I can't begin to tell you how happy you make me. All of you."

"That's the first time you really told us anything about Anya. Plums were her favorites.", Wanda repeated that fact to herself, as if to memorize it.

"Yes. And her favorite food was pancakes with applesauce."

"Is that why you make pancakes so often?", Peter cocked his head.

"I don't know. I like pancakes, too. And they are quick and easy. She had a little doll. A woman in our village gave it to her. The doll's name was Maja. She… Maja was all I found. She loved running and stick fights. She would climb every tree. Or just on my back. And she'd sing all day, every day."

"23. That means she had just turned four, right?", Mom asked.

"Yeah. Less than two months before. She had a bit of a temper. And the same green eyes as both Wanda and Lorna. Brown hair, curly. Even at age four, she was a great liar, and I have no idea how or why. Honestly! She'd tell you something, and you'd believe her and… she just LIED to you!", Dad was laughing now. Laughing and crying. But that was okay. He was talking about Anya and Lorna wanted to hear everything she could. Every little thing about the big sister she never got to meet.

"There was an old man in our village that used to call her an Odmieniec. Because she looked different to Magda and me. And was a wild little girl."

"What does it mean?", Lorna asked.

"Like a changeling, basically. Magda struggled a lot with that. She was more light skinned than her parents. Anya wasn't. Some people thought Anya couldn't be mine… It was one of the reasons we left our first home. All the talk. So we moved to Vinnytsia. That turned out to be a mistake."

"How am I the only one with brown eyes?", Peter pouted.

"Nothing wrong with your eyes, Honey. They are beautiful."

"Not the point! How do you all have green eyes?"

"I don't.", Dad shrugged, "Genes are funny that way."

"I've had soooo many people tell me I inherited Mom's beautiful eyes, it's a running gag at this point."

"I get my eyes from my mother, I think.", Mom shrugged.

"You think?", Wanda sounded horrified.

"I've only met her a couple of times. In passing."

"Had she powers like yours?", Lorna ceased the moment. If Dad was finally talking, maybe she could get Mom to open up a little, too.

"We were just talking about your sister, Lorna. Not me."

"It's alright. Share.", Dad told her. He tried to reach out to touch Mom's arm, but there were too many kids between them.

"My mother has time based powers. Like me. Only less severe. I think she can turn back time by about five minutes. Which is really great for healing, natural disasters… anything like that. She's considered powerful. My father was very powerful. A Sorcerer. Rich. A prince. He was young and she ambitious. She told me once, when I was a child, that she thought he'd marry her, if she got pregnant. He didn't. He panicked. Told her there had been a prophecy about how one of his children would bring the end of the world. Told her to run and hide, to protect me. She hoped I'd ensure a better life. Instead, I brought an end to the one she already had. She dumped me in the village where she had grown up and left. The other universes I went to, where I found Fenrir and… others… my siblings weren't treated kindly. So, in a way, I was very lucky."

"So your mother was a bitch.", Wanda declared and Mom chuckled.

"Honestly? Yes. I never loved her. The few times I met her, I didn't even like her."

"What happened to your father?", Dad wondered.

"He died. There were rumors. A lot of them. He either fell or jumped. I don't know. Many people in that village at least suspected my parentage. After he died, I was treated worse. I ran away. Left through a portal and never looked back."

"How old were you?"

"Too young. Basically a kid."

"So it's not healing? You didn't heal me, you turned back time?"

"Yes."

"Can you time travel?"

"No, Lorna, I can't. Well… kinda. Not easily, at least. I can use existing portals, wormholes and influence them with my powers. But the chances of me ending up exactly where I want to be are… not good. 50/50, I think."

"How far back can you go? If your mother could do five minutes?"

"Uh… unlimited, I think. But NOT something I want to do, okay?"

"Do your powers sometimes just… happen?"

"No, Wanda, I just have trouble stopping sometimes. The more I use my powers, the more difficult it gets. But… I am pretty good with magic. Maybe you want to learn more about that?"

"You said neither of us had potential.", Peter pouted.

"Honey, I said you and Lorna don't. I never mentioned Wanda."

"That's not true, is it?"

"It is.", Dad laughed, "I remember it very clearly. I was worried about you and magic and, believe me, I noticed, when she said nothing about Wanda's potential."

"So… are my powers a mutation or magic?"

"It doesn't have to be either or. Your ability to use magic could very well be a mutation. Both Lorna and I can manipulate energy. Magnetic, yes, but energy. Maybe you manipulate another kind."

"Meanwhile, Peter is just over here, getting his groove on."

"My groove on? Where are you even getting this?"

"School. TV. Radio. Friends… That thing some people have."

"You little shit."

"Guys! Stop it. Please."

"Don't act like you don't think this is fun, Dad."

"I don't even know what this is, honestly."

"Then keep it less hostile, at least."

They didn't return to school before the winter break, instead staying at home just spending time together. It was only on Christmas Eve that Lorna was standing in Peter's room, playing his arcade game as he made a new mixtape, that she had a sudden idea.

"Pete…", she started, letting her game end as she turned around, "We need to talk to Wanda. Now."

"Wanda is taking a bath."

"It's important."

"So is not disturbing Wanda in the bathtub."

"Pete… Mom said, she could potentially time travel, right? Indefinitely?"

"She said the chances of her managing to hit the right time were bad."

"She said 50/50."

"Yes… bad. I don't think she'll want to get lost in time."

"Buuuuut Wanda can change probability, no?"

"Uh. Technically."

"So… if she trains and supports Mom's powers, they could do it."

"Possibly. Why? What are you up to, Little Sis?"

"Do you know any mutants that could open portals?"

"No. Most mutants I know live in Ulvheim. Loooorna, what is it?"

"If we were to open a portal in time, you could run through, get someone and run back out without anyone ever noticing."

"Oh. So now I'M time travelling?"

"Not yet. But if we could train, we could do it, right?"

"Do what?! Will you just come out and say it already?!"

"We need Mom, Wanda and a portal. Where do we get that? You could ask that Xavier guy."

"Lorna Northman, people, lost in her own mind."

"Okay, what's going on?", Wanda appeared, wearing a bathrobe, her hair in a turban.

"Nothing."

"Peter, I can feel Lorna's brain buzzing. It's distracting. What is it?"

"I need both you and Mom to train more."

"Oh great. That's exactly what I don't need in my life."

"Guys, your father is doing another load of laundry, do any of you have black… why are you all standing here like that? And why is Wanda dripping all over the wooden floor?"

"Mom. Get inside.", Lorna pulled at her mother's arm, "Dad can't hear this."

"Ehm. I don't think I want to keep secrets from your father… what is going on?"

"Mom, if we find someone to open a portal and Wanda trains with her probability powers, could we open a portal in time? Send Peter through? And have him get back?"

"Uh.", Mom looked around, her empty basket high on her stomach, "Yes. We could."

"So we COULD open a portal to 1956?"

"1956… Lorna? Please tell me you're not suggesting…"

"Why not?!"

"You can't change time like that. Some things are fixed. You don't change the past, you create a universe."

"We don't need to change anything!"

"I'm so confused.", Peter interrupted them, "What are we doing in 1956?"

"Lorna, what you are suggesting…"

"Dad said, the only thing he found was Anya's doll. We wouldn't change the past. Maybe it has always been this way!"

"Lorna…"

"Why do we have these powers, if they aren't good for something?!"

"They are part of you, they don't have to be useful, they…"

"Ida. I could do it.", Wanda interrupted Mom, "I think I could do it. Change the probability. Make sure a portal would work."

"Firstly: We don't have a portal. Second: We are not sending Peter through a hypothetical portal to…"

"Safe our sister?"

"That's unfair, Lorna."

"I'd do it.", Peter declared, "You make me a portal and I'll do it. No question about it."

"Yeah. Sure. And we lose you somewhere in time."

"No. We won't.", Wanda declared, "I'll train. I can do it. If I have a goal, I can do it."

"Your father is never going to risk Peter's life like that. Never."

"That's why we aren't telling him. We can't get his hopes up. No way."

"Wanda…"

"We can do it. I can do it."

"Mom… if it were either of us, would you do it?"

"What kind of question even is that?!"

"You told us you could lose control, if you use your powers. You still saved me. Twice.", Peter asserted.

"Of course I did!"

"Why not Anya?"

"Because Anya died 20 years ago."

"And? Time means nothing to you."

"That's not true."

"We could do it, Mom. I KNOW it!"

"Trust us.", Wanda urged.

"Please, Ma.", Peter added.

"We can't do anything. Not without a portal. Not without Wanda training, and certainly not while I'm pregnant."

"Will you think about it? At least?"

"Fine. I'll THINK about it. That's all."

"Then that's enough for now.", Wanda nodded, "We can work with that."