Disclaimer: I don't own X-men or anything of the sort.

Prologue

"What's going on daddy? Where's mommy?"

Erik looked down at his young son, Pietro. Then he looked over his shoulder to the burning building behind them. The fire had been started by his daughter Wanda, who was clinging to her brother and sobbing hysterically.

Wanda was a mutant, like her father. But her powers… where Erik could control metal in all its forms, Wanda controlled everything. And she had no control over it. Every time Wanda got angry, random things would happen; pots would melt, bath water just evaporated instantly, and various kinds of objects would explode. But this had been her worst fit yet, and now their home was in flames and Magda was trapped. And there was nothing he could do about it.

"Mommy's still in there, isn't she?" Pietro whimpered.

"Yes." said Erik. No matter how nightmarish it seemed, it was still the truth.

"We have to help her!"

"Pietro, there's nothing we can do…"

"No!"

Then, before Erik could even blink, Pietro was gone. "Pietro!" Erik did a double take, then saw a silver blur that was heading for burning house behind them. So his son had powers of super-speed…

But he couldn't think about that now. Now, he had to think about the boy who was running into a house that was on fire.

Erik started to attract some nearby metal, but of course Pietro was already inside before he was even done. "PIETRO!"

"What's going on daddy? Where's Pietro?" Wanda had stopped crying and was now looking up at Erik.

It was taking all of Erik's strength not to cry. God, this was a nightmare, and one that he was reliving too. He still remembered what had happened with Anya…

After a long while, he looked down at his daughter. Picking her up, he began to walk away from the fire, thinking about his options. Then, he made his choice. He never thought he'd have to do this, much less to his own daughter, but he had to. Wanda was growing too wild, and he couldn't handle her any longer. Taking one last look behind him, Erik silently said goodbye to everything he had known and loved.

Meanwhile, inside the inferno, Pietro stopped running. It was so hot, so he took off his hoodie and dropped it to the ground. Then, he started to run again, but he tripped and fell. He shrieked as the flames burned him, leaving behind scars that would forever haunt him.

"Pietro? Is that you?" Hearing his mother, Pietro looked up. He saw his mother in the doorway, parts of her clothes burned off, and she also had many burns on her.

"Mommy!"

"Pietro, get out of here! It's not safe!"

"No! Mommy, I want to help you!"

"Pietro, please, get out of here!"

"NO!"

Magda rushed forward, but all of a sudden, a pile of burning debris landed on her, snapping her neck. Pietro could only watch as his mother died right in front of him.

"MOMMY!"

Pietro crawled over to his mother's body. "Mommy…" Just then, a smaller pile of debris fell and landed on Pietro's head.

"Ow!" Pietro fell, stunned. Though the impact was hard, it had not been enough to kill him. But the impact had been hard enough to knock off Pietro's entire life from his memory, save for his name and the desire to get out before anything happened. Everything else was gone.

Pietro got up, shook himself, then ran as fast as he could, and he didn't stop running even after he had gotten out of the fire.

eeeeXXXeeee

Wanda looked up at her father, curious about where they were. They were in front of a large, beautiful building. She thought it was a castle, but maybe her daddy knew what it really was.

Then, two people came out of the building. One man was bald and in a wheelchair, and the other was a very nice-looking black woman with white hair.

"Hello, Erik." the bald man said.

"Hello, Charles." Wanda's dad said.

"Why are you here?"

"Don't bother reading my mind. I'm leaving my daughter here with you."

"And this is her?" the bald man turned his gaze to Wanda and smiled.

"Yes."

"I'm quite curious to know why, Erik. Aren't you quite capable of handling a child by yourself?"

"Oh, you'll see."

And with that, Erik just left, saying nothing to his daughter.

eeeeXXXeeee

In one of the quieter parts of New York City, it started to rain. Marya Maximoff pulled her coat closer to her body. She hated the rain; it had been raining when she lost her child before he was even born, and it had been raining when she divorced with Django.

Hurrying to get back to her apartment, she just happened to glance across the street and saw- Goodness! She saw a young boy with white hair, and he was covered with burns. He looked as though he desperately needed help, and Marya wasn't the kind of person who just watched others suffer. She went across the street and went over to the boy.

"Hello. Where are your parents?" Marya asked the child, kneeling down at eye level.

"I… I…" the boy was so confused, and it pained Marya to see him like that.

"Listen, you need a doctor for those burns. How did you get them anyway?"

"I… Noooo…" the boy moaned.

Marya truly felt sorry for the boy, and wanted to help him. She decided that she would put an ad in the newspaper saying that a lost child had been found, and if nobody came to claim the boy… well, she didn't mind having another head under her roof. She picked up the boy, and the boy clung close to her. Marya smiled, thanking God for letting her find this child. Then she realized she had forgotten something.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Pietro."

"Pietro. What a pretty name."