-A/N-: I’m having my school holidays now. Yay.

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To Rogue, time seemed to stand still for the longest moment. Almost every one of them, speechless from Pietro’s intense outburst, had their eyes trained on either the silver-haired boy—who was still panting with difficulty—or the metal manipulator on the ground—staring up at the crazed boy, all grandeur leaving him in an instant.

The hatred radiating from Pietro was so strong that Rogue swore she could feel it from where she stood. Questions formed in her head that she hoped would be soon answered. Who was this Wanda? Magneto killed someone that Pietro knew?

“Okay, wait. Back up,” Logan started finally, “Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on? Starting with why the hell that kid just tried to beat Magneto senseless?”

“He killed my sister,” Pietro spat, answering Logan’s question as though it were that obvious, while he wrenched himself violently out of Piotr’s restraining grip and glared at the old man who was only just now picking himself off the ground. John made it a point to stand between the two, fingers ready to light his wrist igniter, in case the hot-headed mutant decided to attack Magneto again.

He had a sister? Rogue was surprised and couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for the kid, who had, up till now, managed to make her hate him to no end. So Wanda’s his sister. It made her wonder whether his cocky, arrogant behaviour was just a cover-up. An act to mask what he once was before the death of his sibling.

“Pietro…” Erik Lensherr said, audible caution and a little bit more than disbelief in his voice, as though the boy before him were some dreadful apparition, “You’re… I thought you were…” he struggled for awhile, “I thought you were dead.”

“Well, you thought wrong,” Pietro said with an embittered sneer, “the one you killed was Wanda. Or did you already forget? Some father you are.”

“Father?” half a dozen voices echoed around the foyer, all of them mirroring tones of incredulity.

“He’s your son?” John asked his former leader, perturbed, realising that he’d been sharing a room with the silver-haired mutant for days now.

“I am not his son. Not anymore,” Pietro said loudly, “he doesn’t deserve to be my father. In fact,” the boy rounded on John, eyes flashing, “You’re more of a son to him than I ever was!”

“Pietro, that’s not--”

“Don’t you Pietro me!” the boy yelled, his voice shrill. “I’ve seen you two on the news, working together hand-in-hand and killing people. Yeah, real fun, wasn’t it?”

And it clicked. Rogue realised now why Pietro had been so disgusted with John from day one. ‘And Pyro is a bloody traitor. Just go back to your helmet-headed freak of a leader, you loser!’ Pietro was hurt, he felt betrayed. Even though his sister had been killed by his own father… John joining the Brotherhood and forming a bond with Magneto had been the last straw.

Erik was looking at Charles Xavier, or whom he assumed was Charles, with helpless exhaustion now, a silent plea. The Professor, who had been silent all this while, gave his erstwhile friend a terse nod and spoke.

“Pietro, calm down. I understand that you’re taking this extremely hard and you’re not the only one here who feels that your father should be justifiably… harmed in some way,” Xavier gave both Mystique and Logan a sharp look. “But before we point the accusing finger, we have to be made aware of the both sides to your story. Why don’t we start with yours. I’m sure many of us here would be interested to hear from you.”

“What is there to hear from me? He left me and my twin sister to die! It’s that simple!”

Xavier nodded, understandingly. “What did he do?”

“He left us to die in a psychiatric hospital after our mother passed away. And you have no idea what they did to us in that mental institute.” Pietro said quietly, his eyes staring blankly into space as though reliving his past memories with an expression of pain and hurt. But there was no mistaking the anger and resentment in his voice either. “They did… things,” he continued, “Back then, they knew little of mutants and thought we were fun to experiment on, I suppose. We tried to break out of there. We plotted our escape. It wasn’t easy. We were separated. But we managed to finalise our plan. But something happened shortly after that and Wanda… she went insane. Before they killed us, I escaped. And now Wanda’s gone. He never once came back to help us.”

“I didn’t know!” Erik argued. “If I were to have found out, I would have come after you.”

“Liar! You never once cared about us,” the boy’s voice rose dangerously to a crescendo. “All you ever care about is your stupid conquest against the homo sapiens. You’re not my father! You never were!”

“Pietro—!”

But it was too late. The distraught boy had already sped out of the foyer and down the hallway in a blur with unmistakeable tears in his angry eyes.

An uncomfortable silence followed before Erik let out a sigh.

“That went well,” he muttered, more to himself than to the people surrounding him. And then he looked wearily up at Raven Darkholme. “I hope you aren’t still planning on killing me. Strangely enough, everyone seems hell-bent on my murder.”

“And for good reason,” Mystique replied, crossing her arms. But she didn’t seem to show any signs of wanting to harm the man standing before her anymore. Magneto took this as a good thing and said nothing further.

“Okay. You lost me,” John said then.

Magneto sighed again. “If you mean what Pietro said about me being a poor father then I suppose he was right. It’s true. I’ve neglected--”

“No, what I mean is YOU HAVE A SON?”

“Apparently so,” Magneto replied dryly, “And, amusing as it is to all of you, I don’t intend to talk about him for now.” He turned to look at Xavier. “My, Charles. Is that really you?” he asked, looking the unfamiliar man up and down. “It’s such an extraordinary thing, seeing you alive. Last I saw, you were obliterated by your former student.”

Xavier gave the metal manipulator a small, weak smile, “Indeed, Erik. You’re not looking too bad yourself.”

“And you’re looking like you’re brand new. You’ve forsaken your trademark wheelchair I see. How does it feel like to be able to walk again?” Erik’s voice held an odd note of bitterness that Rogue believed only she had caught.

“It isn’t much different to what I remembered, Erik,” Xavier replied. “But you know, I’ll still always be me, my friend. No one else. This outward appearance doesn’t change anything.”

“Of course, of course,” Erik said briskly, as though changing the subject. “And I suppose you never once intended to contact me when you took my son in.”

“I assumed he didn’t want to see you. I thought it would be better if you didn’t know he was alive.”

“You must think I’m a terrible father.”

Xavier looked at him gravely, but not reprovingly. “Not so much terrible as ignorant, Erik. You weren’t aware that they were sent to an asylum. It was never your fault.”

Magneto nodded and spoke nothing more about his children.

“Anyway, I have come here to tell you a matter of great importance, not to exchange pleasantries and be verbally abused.”

“I hope this has nothing to do with the man on the news who killed the young mutant girl and Worthington the Second,” Ororo murmured.

“My dear, it has everything to do with him. And more.”

-

Minutes later, the X-Men, Mystique and Magneto found themselves in Xavier’s office, listening to what Magneto had to say. Rogue stood close to John, the only person in the room who could really be considered to be on both sides, Brotherhood and X-Men.

“Mutant Eradicators, that’s what they’re calling themselves,” Erik Lensherr said grimly, as though the very thought of such an extremist group disgusted him.

“Original,” John commented as he wrapped an arm around Rogue’s waist. Rogue could barely tell that he was nervous just by initiating this very suave move. Barely. Actually, the both of them found it pretty comfortable.

“Their cause is the complete and total opposite of the Brotherhood’s. And that’s something to worry about, isn’t it?” Erik continued, voice light but unable to hide the concern that his expressions never showed.

Charles was unduly troubled by these revelations. “They- these group of extremists—”

“Eradicators, Charles,” Erik corrected, stressing the word, “They plan to kill every mutant on the planet.”

“Sound familiar, anyone?” Logan asked dryly to no one in particular.

“Young or old, woman or child. Ezekiel Blacken plans to rid the world of people like us,” Erik went on, ignoring Logan, “You saw for yourself, he killed a young mutant girl last night.”

“And Warren’s father,” Rogue added quietly, voice hollow. John’s grip tightened around her.

“Precisely,” Erik said loudly, “They care not for the people who stand in their way. They plan to use the Cure as a weapon. And believe me when I say they hate the X-Men.”

“These people. They plan to destroy us…” Xavier said, deep in thought, “How ever did you come across this information?” he looked back up at his old friend from his chair.

The magnetokinetic mutant gave Xavier a maimed smile. “I found one. He told me everything I needed to know, including their whereabouts, secret headquarters, and the like,” he glanced up into the Professor’s eyes, “Anyway, he’s dead now.”

Charles Xavier exhaled openly. He didn’t need to read the man’s mind to know how the extremist had died. The man was tainted with the taste of death.

“If this is true, we will have to stop them some way. Prevent this from happening. No mutant is safe from this group of morally corrupt killers.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Erik replied, “It’s what we all want, isn’t it?”

“You’ll join with us for the cause then?”

“Whatever it takes to get rid of these cowardly humans,” Erik replied.

“Whatever it takes,” Xavier echoed, agreeing.

“Looks like we’re going to have to work together as a team again, eh, Charles?”

Xavier nodded. “Indeed.”

“You do still know that no homo sapien is safe from me, no matter what the outcome, don’t you?”

There was a slight pause on Xavier’s part as he stared into Erik’s sombre eyes for a long while.

“Yes,” he said at last. “I do know.”

Rogue couldn’t help but shiver at that. Something bad was about to happen. She could almost feel it in her veins. And she didn’t much feel like finding out what it was.

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-A/N-: This chapter was beta’d by the so-very-awesome The 42.

And I promise you'll have more Ryro in the next chapter.

And I shall reply to all the reviewers who reviewed last chapter. Because I love you guys.

we-r-the-cure: Ah, singing!Logan. Instant comedic relief right there. And he’s just so adorable when people try to put him down. At least in this fic he is, anyway. Thank you for the review! Oh, and I didn’t know you were a Firefly person :)

Dama Jade: Tada! Now you know why Erik wanted to speak to Charles! And yes, at the moment, the Scarlet Witch is presumed dead. And as much as we all love her, I haven’t had plans to bring her back… Although technically, Pie didn’t see her die so it’s possible she’s still alive.

Kari Lynn Craine: I never really tried to incorporate bits of the Evo-verse into this fic, apart from Quicksilver’s smartass attitude (and even then, Pietro breaking down like how he did in this chapter doesn’t really tally with the Evo-verse Pietro). But I really loved X-Men: Evolution! Anyhoo, thanks for the review! It made me go ‘SQUEE!’ as well.

PsYcHoThErApY17: Haha, as soon as Mags stepped through the front door, everyone wanted to kill him. Mystique, Logan and Pietro. He’s quite the popular chum, ain’t he? Hmm… Your GCSE’s are comin’? Gosh, good luck! Most of my friends back home (I moved) are havin’ theirs soon too. Anyway, yeah, thanks for the review! I’ll post chapter 21 ASAP.

Chica De Los Ojos Cafe: Yep, Pietro knows that Mags is his daddy alright. Oooh. Now we know why Wanda wasn’t with Pietro. It’s really sad what happened to her. Aww…

yaba: Thanks for the review! Hope to hear more from you soon!

Mrs. St. John Allerdyce: Thanks! I’ll keep going!

storyellergirl: Sometimes I find that Mystique is a very misunderstood character and that she deserves more than what she got in X3. Oh, and Mags does seem to be changing somewhat too, huh?

the sillylittlepanda: Yep, Pietro, Wanda and Magneto make one big happy family! Well, not so much ‘happy’ as ‘demented’. But anyway, yeah. Pie is Erik’s son. And now we know why Wanda’s dead.

BitterSweet Amusement: I’m glad you still enjoy this fic. :) I’ll hand you a cookie and some milk!

Psyc0gurl0: Rogue’s powers going wonky… Hmm, there’s something I plan to do about her powers, but one thing’s for sure: They are seriously developing into something crazy and big. Hee, I’m happy that you find that this is one of the better Ryros you’ve read. I can’t really say anything but… Yay! So very happy:)

annie: Thanks for reviewing! And awww… you don’t really like Rogue? Why not? Hmm… I shall attempt to change your mind about that!

tHe TrUtH aBoUt RoSeS: Hello, friend! Ahah! Another person who found singing!Logan amusing! Awesome! And by the way, welcome aboard the ‘Stranger’ ship! May I take your coat:) Thanks for the review! Ryro conquers all!

Lanfear1: Hmm… You said I get cookies if I updated… (Grins suggestively) Thanks for reading and I hope you continue reading too!

michellio: Ooh. Another Ryro fan! (Or at least, I hope you’re a Ryro fan) Thanks for the review! And I’m delighted that you’re following this story. You get a cookie. (Hands you a cookie as promised).