Liquid Metal: An X-men & QuickSilver Novel

Chapter 28: The Cost of Reality

Sound Track: Sister - Mumford and Sons

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Peter had found Lorna sitting with a young girl. I recognized her as Rachel, the girl from the camp. Lorna was reading to her out of an old beaten up copy of Alice in Wonderland as they sat on the white love seat in the foyer. Rachel was smiling and laughing at the different voices Lorna used.

"Thank you Peter" I said as I watched them.

He shrugged "it's not like she was hiding" he said. "I found yours, now you go find mine" Peter said in my ear before placing a quick kiss on my cheek. He decided to go join Lorna and Rachel. I stayed there for a few more minutes as I saw him take up the part and read for the mad hatter and the red queen.

With a smile on my face, I rolled my eyes and went to go find Jean to tell her I'd have to be back later so I could finish helping out. I just needed to find Wanda first.

* * *

"No, you're fine!" Jean assured me as she waved her hand dismissively.

"Are you sure?" I asked chewing on my lip.

"Absolutely! Most of the people here have been sorted out and we're not expecting any more today. Thank you for helping with that, by the way" she added before shooing me away.

I knew Wanda was somewhere at the school because that's where I left her. I wandered for almost two hours, poking my head into every room I came across.

At one point I passed Warren in the hall "hey have you seen Wanda anywhere?" I asked.

"Who's Wanda?" He asked looking confused.

"Never mind" I sighed shaking my head. I had been wandering for awhile now and I decided to just give up and figure that she had gone home. I retreated to my room.

It turns out that the one room I hadn't checked out yet was my own.

I shut my door softly, and stood there for a moment rubbing my eyes with a sigh. I noticed something was off when I felt the emotions coming from a corner.

I got a look at my lost friend. Never before had I seen a person look more broken and scared in my life. She was curled up in a ball next to the foot of my bed. She had a sallow look to her face which seemed to have dried of tears a long time ago. Her slightly red eyes stared blankly down and to the right, transfixed on one of the bedposts.

I sank to my knees next to her and I placed my hand on hers, trying to gain her attention.

"Wanda-" I said gently yet loudly enough to attract her grey gaze up to me. It was hard to keep the strain from breaking through my voice as I both saw and felt the emotions coming from this girl.

"Wanda what happened?"

I was relieved when I got even the smallest of responses from her. Her face scrunched up and she shut her eyes tightly, as if new tears were erupting to the surface. Although it was a negative reaction, I was just grateful that she hadn't closed the world off and that she was still listening to me.

"Sweetheart, I only read the past, I can't quite read minds" I said delicately, stroking the side of her hair as I'd done when we were younger and she had come to me in tears over some bully or personal happening.

"There's too much" she managed to whisper through a thick voice and a battle of emotions that occupied her face.

Although the pronoun game usually irritated me to no end, in this instance I could understand her lack of words.

"Too much of what?" I asked softly, trying to keep her talking to me.

"Everything."

My mind raced trying to figure out what she meant by this. The information about this girl that my mutation allowed me to see flicked by so rapidly that I could only catch a few things here and there.

Then it clicked.

She was talking about her mutation. It all made sense too, I just wasn't perceptive enough to see that one of my most dear friends was nearly suffocating in her own mind.

I proceeded to wedge myself next to her and wrap my arms around her like when we were kids. She would come to me crying that kids had teased her or that Peter had been mean. I would just sit there quietly with her. But as years went by, I saw less and less of my companion. It felt nice to sit with her again.

"I keep seeing things that aren't real" Wanda finally managed to say after awhile. Her fists balled up and she squeezed her eyes shut again. She snapped her head back in a frustrated, desperate, almost angry manner.

"It's not real Josephine" she pleaded. "It's not real."

"What's not real?" I asked quietly.

"Reality."

"Isn't that what reality is though?... Well, real?" I wasn't trying to be recalcitrant, I was just trying to keep a conversation going and maybe get her to explain some things.

"Nothing is real, Josephine" Wanda said in a painful and defeated voice.

I watched as she held out her delicately quaking hand. A mist of swirling red vapor soon formed over it, forming what vaguely resembled a teardrop. The red cloud soon evaporated to give way to a small green bird perched atop her finger.

"How-" I began.

"It was always there, you just weren't looking in the right place" she said peering at the bird.

The bird flew to the window sill and Wanda's expression fell once more.

"Is this all because of what happened with Tori?" I questioned. "Because she's already forgiven you."

"That's when it started" she whispered. I was glad to notice that she was gaining some kind of composure. "And forgiveness is not the point, Josephine. When I did that, I wasn't seeing the moment I saw the countless outcomes all happening at once and I panicked."

I stayed silent for a moment before selecting my words. "Does the professor know?"

"He hates me for it" she whispered as the bird came to perch on her hand. Her fingers curled around it and it disappeared with a small puff of red smoke.

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A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay but I hope you guys like it! I'm really excited to get to explore the psychosis of Wanda because I thought it would be a cool story to follow and maybe dip our toes into the House of M storyline.

Question of the day: when are you going to see the avengers?

I'm seeing it Thursday at seven! 😃