Disclaimer: X-Men: Evolution and any other Marvel characters mention/included in this fic belong to their respective owners. Which isn't me. I'm not making money from this fic. I'm not making money at all at this current juncture.

Notes:This isn't going to be a fic filled with a lot of fluff. And the romance is going to take a backseat to a lot of other factors. There will be swearing (though not excessive amounts) and there will be violence (but with good reason). I completely understand if you don't want to read this, and I'm completely and utterly grateful if you do. Also, in the series, I got these seriously bad vibes from Xavier – before he was replaced by Mystique. The man's incredibly manipulative on the show. No lie, watch some of the eps. So in this story, I'm going to slowly bring that part of him to the others' attention. You're not innocent Xavier! I see right through you.

Blackbird

Chapter 1: Rain

Rain wasn't a thing Wanda liked. The sound of thunder made her jumpy and scared. Usually, when it rained in Bayville, Wanda would just hide out in her room and wait it out. Her brother would her discomfort, and he would always come into her room and comfort her but recent events changed that. Right now, she was fighting with her brother and at at the moment, she was hiding inside an abandoned building. Pietro didn't know where the building was and even if he did, Wanda really doubted that he would even come for her.

Another round of thunder was heard over head and Wanda found herself crouching down in response. She wished it was those types of light rains, she could stand those, those didn't bring thunder. Those didn't bring raindrops that felt like hail and pins. Wanda shivered, cold. Those types of rain showers didn't make her feel alone.

She could see the puffs of air she was releasing with every breath she took. Her trench coat was sticking very closely to her back and her head hurt. Wanda scooted herself back until she was backed into a corner. Wanda brought her knees up and hugged her legs, wishing she never left the boarding house.

She just wanted some fresh air. Pietro was being unreasonable and Toad kept butting in where he wasn't needed. To the young mutant's credit, he was simply trying to help Wanda. But the idiot wasn't well equipped to debate against to the man known for his silver tongue. Wanda shivered. She should have just went upstairs to her room. Locked the door or something, so she could calm herself down then. She could have even went to take a shower if she wanted to feel fresh. She could have lurked out in the backyard for a bit anything but this.

She heard the sound of creaking from above her, the metal from the building must have been deteriorating or something. Wanda thought of going outside and finding better shelter before another crack of thunder was heard, louder and angrier than the last. This time she saw the light from the lightning. Wanda heard herself gasp in fear and she buried her head in arms rocking slightly. She didn't like the rain. She couldn't stand it.

More creaking was heard above her and she wasn't getting any more dry. The wind was blowing through the building, making Wanda shiver even more. She could wait it out, she told herself. She could wait it out. The creaking grew louder and closer and Wanda found herself whimpering this time. Her heart rate was speeding up and she couldn't calm herself down and she was so very close to crying.

There was a loud thump heard right above her and Wanda clenched up, afraid. More creaking was heard this time and Wanda let her tears drop. There was an obvious temperature difference between the tears running down her cheeks from the raindrops running down her back. Another thump was heard this time, right in front of her and Wanda closed her eyes and physically drew herself in, trying to make herself smaller. She knew she should have at least raised her head or powered up when she heard the light footfalls. But she was panicking and her instinct was simply telling her to run and hide. Wanda found herself angry at herself for being so weak.

The footfalls grew closer and Wanda tensed up further, if possible.

A hand was laid on her shoulder cautiously. Instead of feeling five fingers lightly grasping her shoulder, Wanda felt three big digits, that were abnormally warm. Wanda looked up, shocked.

"Wanda?"

She tried to look a little bit dignified. Her body tensed up a little bit more to hide the shivering, and she clenched her jaw to keep her lip from trembling. But Wanda wasn't as trained as her brother when it came to fully hiding those strong emotions. She looked away from him and focused on a spot beside him. She did not want to see pity from an X-Man.

The hand on her shoulder was firm now as it trailed up to her forehead. Wanda shivered at the contrast between his warm hand and her cold body. She made no other move of acknowledgment.

"Mein Gott, Wanda," he whispered, "you're freezing."

She glared at him at the comment. That's kind of what happens when you sit outside in the fucking rain for a long time, genius, she thought. If it was possible, she would have pressed herself even closer into the corner. She opened her mouth to speak, but the thunder interrupted her train of thought. Another whimper escaped Wanda and the shivering returned full force. She looked down to gaze at the top of her knees, afraid. Her weak facade of coolness was gone.

She saw him look away from her, probably in thought then he turned back to her, understanding in her eyes. She would of turned away like the last time but she saw that there really was none of that pity she thought she would see in those yellow eyes, just simple understanding and concern. Wanda's jaw tightened at another sound of thunder. He seemed to notice the subtle movement and he tilted his head in thought.

His arms wrapped around her as best he could. And then the scene in front of her changed. Then changed again a few times before stopping behind a smaller building. Wanda was glad that she was still crouched down and encased in the other mutant's arms; she felt sick at the moment, dizzy, and she just needed a balance. She felt a bit feverish and was close to throwing up.

"Slow breaths," he instructed softly, "you'll feel better in a moment."

The rain was welcome as the raindrops beat down on her back. It was cooling her body right now as she followed the man's instructions. She noticed that the rain didn't feel like hail and that she couldn't hear thunder. She did hear people talking nearby, laughing and enjoying themselves and the sound of splashing water. Where where they?

Slowly, she was eased on to her feet. Wanda was still dizzy and really did need support so the hand on her hip and shoulder was a great help. She was still a bit disoriented, but she was glad to know she didn't have double vision. She looked around, seeing the small, one floor buildings. To her right, she could see a street, there was two cars passing by and if she focused carefully, she could see a small group of people drinking outside. That must have been the laughing and splashing from before. She looked up, and the rain hit her face but it wasn't the pain inducing hail rain. To her left, Wanda was met with a lot of trees. There were at the woods?

Wanda looked at the man in question and he simply nodded his head towards the woods. They were going to walk through the woods then. Slowly, Wanda let him lead her in the right direction with his arm on her shoulder and his tail wrapped around here waist. Once they were far enough, he started talking.

"I really just wanted a moment of peace," he told her. Wanda wondered if he was blaming her in his mind.

"It's kind of our day off, you know," he continued, "but they still want me to do things. 'Kurt can you 'port us here?' 'Kurt can you help us with this?' 'Kurt? Kurt? Kurt?'" Wanda didn't speak, but she wanted to tell him that he had that one coming. They were all asking him to do these things, he could have said no. Almost as if he was reading her mind, Kurt shrugged.

"I can't really say no to them," Kurt told her, "and I don't mind that much..." Wanda almost shook her head at his attempt to rationalize his actions. If he didn't mind, he wouldn't be out here, now would he?

"But today," he continued, "today is sort of a me day." He grinned at her, and Wanda simply stared back. She could understand that. Lance had those types of days, where he just didn't want to deal with the people and he just left. She was sort of having one of those days. Everyday was one of those days for Wanda.

Wanda looked up at his hair and noticed that it was cut short. Really short. Wanda didn't know how she missed it the first time; his hair was down to her shoulders last time she saw him. Kurt drew his eyes up, trying to see what she was staring at before he realize that it was his hair. He laughed a bit, then ran his freehand through it.

"People kept playing with it," he explained, "Jubilee actually braided it once! So I cut it." Wanda smiled at that. It was something Pietro did to Lance every other day. Kurt frowned a bit.

"They still play with it. Now more than ever." And Wanda almost found herself grinning, expecting him to say that. Kurt caught her expression, and he gave her a mock scowl.

"Don't look at me like that!"

And then Wanda grinned.

OoOoO

The mansion was quiet. Which Wanda supposed was kind of peculiar, considering how many people must have lived here. She was calm now, and a bit warm though her feet were kind of numb. Kurt gave her the proper distance as he shook himself off, an action that Wanda didn't normally see. When Kurt looked at Wanda, he gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug.

Standing from her spot in the welcome area, Wanda looked at the institute. The last time she had been here was after Apocalypse. And even then, she stayed outside on the backyard. Back then, she really didn't care about the place, but now that she was paying it more attention, Wanda felt a bit small. There was intricate designs on the wall, and the stairs that she guessed led to the rooms seemed to shine. She didn't know wood could shine.

And aside from the puddle that she created, a the splatters of water that Kurt spread around with his shaking, the place was clean. And it gave off that homey quality. She would never say it out loud, but Wanda was a bit jealous. The only clean thing in the boarding house was Pietro and Wanda's room and the only thing that was worth money in that place was an antique lamp in Mystique's abandoned room. And Pietro stole that. Everything else of proper value was pawned off.

She frowned at the thought of her home. Would the boys even worry about her? Would her brother? She looked down, knowing damn well what the answer was to that question.

A hand lightly, cautiously touched her back. Wanda raised her head to look at Kurt. He was still wet, but not as damp as before. He smiled at her and tilted it a bit. Wanda was positive that the smile was fake this time. She narrowed her eyes a bit, wondering what was going through his head.

"Why don't we go into the kitchen," Kurt suggested, "we can wait out the rain and then you can go home, ja?"

Wanda looked away and nodded.

She was lead into the kitchen and Wanda saw that there was a lady by the stove humming. The woman's white hair seemed to bounce every time she moved and Wanda smiled a bit, reminded of some jumbled memory. Kurt let out a little hum of joy and the lady tilted her body towards them a bit, still not turning around.

"So I know that it's not you who's giving us this weather," Kurt said with a laugh, and Wanda suddenly remembered who this woman was. The one with the ability to manipulate weather. At the little celebration after Apocalypse, she was the one who was sitting back and looking at them with a warm smile as she spoke with the other adults.

"Oh no, Kurt. This type of weather is all over the country," she said, "Not even I have the ability to do that."

Kurt pulled out the chair for Wanda and she quietly sat, choosing to observe for the moment. Kurt was perched on a stool beside her. His tale was waving in a slow motion, like a pendulum.

"Where are the others," Kurt asked as Wanda took off her trench coat. She crinkled her nose a bit at the water that spread there and gave a full on frown at the trail of water that she obviously made.

"Ah, the young mutants just started training with Logan, Scott and Jean are on a date, I believe. Rogue is having another session with the Professor and I don't know where Kitty went," she answered, slowly turning around.

"Oh," she gave a surprised gasp at Wanda.

Wanda refused to bite her lip. She was nervous, afraid that she would be turned away. She took a slow breath, calming herself. It was an irrational fear that she had, being left alone. She looked down at the table in front of her, unable to speak.

"You remember Wanda, Ororo," Kurt said.

"Ah yes," she answered, as if she wasn't surprised before and that this was just a normal occurrence.

"Magneto's daughter, right," Ororo asked, looking at her. And for some reason, that made Wanda scowl. She nodded nonetheless.

"We ran into each other in the rain," Kurt explained, "and she really didn't have a way to go home... so I suggested that she stay here. Just until the rain let up."

Wanda didn't miss the words Kurt chose to use and was more than grateful for that. It was bad enough that she was crying in front of an X-Man, she didn't want to pitied by their leaders.

Ororo looked at Wanda for a moment, a contemplative look on her face. Then she smiled. Wanda relaxed.

"Well let me get a towel for the both of you," Ororo said with a smile. She went over to take Wanda's trench coat. Wanda gripped one of it's sleeves, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"We have a dryer here, and your coat is still dripping," she said. Reluctantly, Wanda let the woman take it. There was nothing in there of dyer importance anyway. Still, it was her favorite coat.

The white haired woman disappeared and Wanda was left in the room with Kurt. She glanced out the window. The rain looked like it was letting up so she wouldn't be here longer than necessary.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that Kurt was observing her movements. His yellow eyes seemed to glow a bit. Wanda turned her head to give him her full attention. Kurt sat perched there, expression unreadable. She tilted her head a bit, trying to get a good look at his pointed ears. It wasn't something she focused on a lot, appearances. She wasn't the type to date (or serial date, like her twin), so she never really focused that much on the stuff. There was that guy at the ski resort. But he turned out to be Toad, so that didn't count. Ugh, why was she even thinking of that now?

Her eyes trailed down, to his tail. In response, the tail switched out of it's movements and swished a bit. Wanda smiled, it was like it was waving at her. Wanda heard footfalls and looked away to see Ororo coming in with towels.

"Fresh from the dryer," she said as she handed them the towels. Ororo left again, with the promise of her return.

Wanda got one huge towel, and she used that one to wrap around herself, following Kurt's example, and she used the smaller hand towel for her face. Her makeup was running, she realized with a frown. Probably why Kurt wouldn't stop staring at her and why Ororo was looking at her like she had risen from the dead at first glance.

"Waterproof my ass," she muttered, a bit peeved. She paid ten dollars for that makeup.

"And she speaks!" Wanda gave Kurt a glare before hiding her face in the towel, groaning a bit. Kurt laughed at Wanda.

And that was Professor Xavier was introduced to when he came into the kitchen.

OoOoO

Wanda seemed to sense him before she actually saw him. For a woman with such an expressive face, her mind seemed completely guarded. It was peculiar though, when Wanda looked at him, she honestly didn't seem to remember him. Xavier smiled warmly at both teens, giving them a greeting. Kurt replied in kind but Wanda kept quiet.

Xavier never did have a chance to talk to her after her escape from the asylum to see on her progress. He didn't worry about her simply because Kurt's description of the events that happened after the bridge fire implied that Wanda and her father were on better terms. He silently asked Kurt why she was here and Kurt showed him the events leading to this moment without any hesitation. Absently, he noted that Wanda still had that fear of thunder.

Ororo came in again, all smiles with Wanda's jacket and her attention was drawn away from him. Xavier used this time to try to enter the young woman's mind.

Her mental defenses reminded Xavier of Wolverine. Logan's shields were stronger, obviously, but the similarities were hard to ignore. Logan's shields weren't put there by the man himself, but by someone else, just like Wanda's. There was the fear that her mind, her memories, may have been tapered with.

Wanda showed no outward signs of discomfort, but her mind was kicking Xavier out now. Full of anger. There was a darkness in her mind that bore a familiar tone to Xavier. Xavier left her mind and gave the young man sitting next to her a glance. He glanced back, ignorant to what was happening right now as Ororo handed him a cup of tea. Xavier took the cup that Ororo offered with a grateful smile.

Wanda pushed herself back from the table and stood up. Her mind was projecting all types of hostile thoughts towards Xavier and he physically pulled away in apology.

"I am sorry," he told her through his telepathy.

He couldn't give his reasons right then, unfortunately. Wanda was a very volatile woman before and after she escaped, and telling her that her mind may have been tampered with may bring her back to that persona. Or worse.

"Just stay out of my head," she replied, not looking at him as she slipped on her coat. From the corner of his eye, Xavier noticed that some of the objects behind Ororo were moving just a bit. Kurt glanced at him, noticing it as well.

"I think I should go," Wanda said. Ororo frowned and tilted her head in concern.

"The rain hasn't let up," Ororo pointed out, "shouldn't you wait? Or maybe we can give you a ride?"

"No," she shook her head, "it's okay. It's not raining as hard as it was before. I'll live."

"Well at least wait a moment," Ororo insisted, "I'll get you an umbrella."

Something of a blank expression crossed Wanda's face before she nodded. Ororo slipped out and returned just as quickly with a navy blue umbrella in hand. Wanda took it and looked a bit lost with what to say. Ororo simply laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Be safe, child."

Wanda nodded dumbly and slowly left the room, not giving the other men parting glances.