Location: School -> KG Residence Front Yard -> Home <3
Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive)
Dorian was upset about someone being dead. She didnât know who he was talking about though. She frowned considering asking him. Mads asked who Selene was,
âMy mother. Itâs very complicated.â She gestured to the hissing cat bag.
âThey donât like each other.â They seemed to encompass all of the Kingston-Gray household and the hissing bag. It was, of course, a massive understatement.
Andy winced at the curse her mother sent her way. Would it stick? Was this something that would haunt her? Part of her shrugged it off, how was that any different than how her life had gone so far? Another part wanted to take it back. Leave her in the room. She hated this. But damn she needed some air. Needed just a bit of time where she didn't feel like she was drowning in a responsibility that she was not prepared for. Even if it was only three days of the contest.
âI missed you Waffle God. And Iâm only addicted to caffeine.â Andy smiled, trying to look unaffected, and shook her head. Casper had been such a strange person when Andy first met him, but he made more sense and seemed less like a dangerous homeless man who wandered into the base. Relief had passed through Andy when Max created the portal and Selene vanished through it.
Selene was taken care of, no matter how short of a time period, where Andy didnât have to worry about her. That was a huge weight off of her shoulders, even if she knew someday it would come back to haunt her. She only carried her suitcase, which was packed tight. Mostly because she always traveled with her pillow. Sure, if she had left it at the school it would have appeared for her before she went to sleep, but it felt better to carry it. The pillow had been a sweet gift. Also in the suitcase was her jacket. She instead wore a school hoodie. The jacket wasnât safe to wear around Danni and Dorian. They were too likely to hug her randomly and sheâd feel bad if the metal bits hurt them. She had considered the jacket armor against the world for so long. Taking it off felt like exposing herself to the world.
Andy finally stepped through the portal to Maxâs property. There was a wave of disorientation as she did. It wasnât the first time she had used one of his portals, but it had been a long time. She remembered the first time was from a collapsed Morlock tunnel to safety. It was sort of nostalgic. A lot of this was painfully nostalgic. It was also so different. Max looked different. The others didnât as much, she couldnât say for Ben as she hadnât learned his face like she had the others. But James looked basically the same. It was weird.
She looked around the property taking it in. The place was big, and while she couldnât see the magic of it, she felt it brushing it up against her. Two painted ladies next to each other with a covered hallway connecting them. It reminded her of San Francisco. Other than the date with Zari she hadnât been there in so long. Not since she was fourteen, just before she was shipped to Northwood. She had loved San Francisco. She had lived and learned on those streets. It seemed so long ago, not just in linear time, but personal time. She smiled looking at the house. Thankful the memories didnât hurt.
Next to the Kingston-Gray house, there stood another home - two stories, freshly painted, with a covered porch that was ideal for lounging on in the early evening hours, perhaps even sipping on a mojito. Of course, the owner of the home rarely consumed openly outside, out of sensitivity to his neighbors. He had no intention of having any part in another relapse for the young man who lived next door, even tangentially. So today, he was sitting on his wicker chair, a glass of lemonade floating by his side on a metal tray, the pieces on the chess board in front of him seemingly moving on their own.
Hearing the noise, he turned his attention away from the game - he played against himself quite regularly, he found it was good practice - and glanced over at the Kingston-Gray property. The sight he saw caused the lemonade to crash, smashing on the porch, and the chess pieces slid off the board all at once.
She looked just like the day heâd lost her. ââŚAndy? Is that truly you, my dear?â
Andy heard her name. She frowned looking around the group, it hadnât been any of them. She looked in the direction the voice had come. A familiar voice. She dropped her bag. One of the many people she hadnât said goodbye to when she left. Magneto. He had adopted her, he had protected her and she had left. Everyone had always left her, until Magneto. She had left him.
âMax, Zari, Iâm going next door.â She said, before running over to the other yard. She didnât even notice if Max noticed, he was pretty good about paying attention though. She trusted he had. Andy didnât expect that Zari would follow her. Magneto and Zari had gotten into a pretty big verbal fight during the last days of Genosha. Zari was not welcome in Magnetoâs home. Andy stopped short at the steps of the porch. He had said she would always be welcome. Was that still true? Andy had followed Zari, not just out of the house that day, but into the future.
âI...â She paused and took a deep breath, remembering once he had told her if she were to start a sentence she must finish it.
âI am here. I am sorry. I should have told you. But, Zari asked me to join her and I just did without saying anything.â She should have tried to reach out after arriving in this time too. But she hadnât. She hadnât known where to start or if he was still alive. He had to be over one hundred now.
Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, rose to his feet. He was silent for a moment, just staring at his daughter, before he descended from the porch, pulling her into a hug. Tears threatened to pool from the corners of his eyes. âYouâre alive,â he said, his voice weary with over a century of grief, of pain. He had mourned her. He had searched for her. And his efforts had failed him. He had held out hope, but there had been so little remaining in him. His other children - Wanda, Lorna, the other one - were safe, they were alive. Andy had been a mystery to him, a phantom still lingering on the poisoned rock of Genosha. âYou are grounded,â he then added, pulling away. âBut for now, I must insist that you join me for tea. Iâve missed you dearly.â
Andy hugged him back. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She laughed though as he grounded her. She had missed him too. She had missed him so much that it hurt. Andy hadnât even realized how much it hurt. She had thought that the little time they had shared on Genosha hadnât been so much that sheâd feel this way. Now that she was faced with it though she felt so much guilt and sorrow.
âI time traveled.â she told him. The day Zari and him had fought she had told him that she was a reality hoping time traveling Asgardian. It had been a very stressful time for Andy. She had been so scared and unsure of herself. Andy let the hug go reluctantly. She remembered how she had been jealous when he had fought for Polaris. She remembered how he had fought for her.
âYeah,â She glanced over at Max's property.
âI'm here for the Contest. So I'm in town for a few days. They can wait.â She smiled. She may have forever, but he wouldnât. That thought settled into her and she hated her mother. Hated that this reunion was now poisoned. Happiness would always have fear lurking behind it. Andy had hoped she had found a way past that. That she had been putting herself back together, instead, she felt like she was falling apart again.
âThe Contest of Champions?â Magneto raised an eyebrow. He wasnât particularly interested in watching those things - however, he had heard about it from the Kingston-Grays in passing before. Ben had a regular appointment to play chess with him, James kept him from crumbling into a pile of bones, Max was the closest thing he had to a son, and Casper was also present. âIs that not beneath one of the saviors of Genosha?â he asked, shaking his head slightly. âI suppose your grounding will have to start
after the contest concludes, then. And your grounding includes no further time traveling - for now.â
âWell I never got that Island Defense team started. Had to learn how to fight in a group somehow.â She smiled and nodded.
âYeah I am tired of it. There was an incident at school that required a ten-minute jump back. I'll have to tell you the whole story. It's only been months for me, but a lot has happened.â Andy looked happy. A facade she built.
He smiled sadly for a moment. Years ago, he thought ensuring mutant children knew how to fight was the most important thing. Perhaps he had grown soft in his old age - perhaps it was weakness - but now, all he wanted was for mutant children to be able to be children. He had seen generations of them rise and fall in combat, and Magneto would gladly raze an entire universe to see that never happen again. He would fight every battle, so the children never would.
With a wave of his hand, the front door opened. âCome. I want to hear every word,â he said, before walking inside. âI suppose I should show you your room. Maximilian helped to prepare it.â
âReally? You kept a room for me?â Andy's heart hurt for a moment. Someone had cared about her that much. Considered her family for so long even though she hadn't been there. The tears that hadn't fallen did now.
âNo one ever cared enough before.â Andy had lived in foster homes her whole life. She had never felt like she had a home before. Only living with the Drummonds had given her that before Magneto had taken her in. She followed him inside. Wiping at her tears. She'd have to fix her make-up later. It hurt so much to think he had done that and she had left him. Hurt even more knowing what Selene had just said. Selene was powerful, if she had cursed Andy, was she bringing that down upon Magneto now? Would anyone she let in die horribly? Maybe it was time to talk to Dr. Whitehall about Selene. Tell her everything. She hadnât wanted to. Had not been ready to talk about Selene to anyone who wasnât already in the know.
He nodded. âOf course. I gave you my word - you always have a place here, Andy, my dear,â he explained. Magneto made his way up the stairs, a little stiffly - his knees werenât what they used to be, even with regular healing top-offs. Not that he minded. It was a privilege to age. One that had not been afforded to so many who were near and dear to him. And it was for his children, for mutant children all across the globe, that he continued on. Gone were the days where he twirled nukes around his finger, boasting of global domination and the subjugation of humanity - but he stood ready, ready to meet whatever threat mutantkind was destined to face. âIf it is not to your liking, Iâm sure Maximilian can conjure up some alternatives,â he added, before opening a door with a wooden A hanging on it.
Inside, there was the room for a stereotypical punk girl from the early 2000s - posters on the walls, a well made bed, a stereo system, and even a small punching bag, tucked neatly into a corner.
âThank you. I don't know if you learned about my past before I met the MU and came to Genosha. But I haven't had my own room often.â She told him before the door opened. She had no idea what to expect in the room. Max had done a good job of conjuring clothes that fit her vibe when he had a few times. So he probably had a good idea about her. But she didn't know what she would even want out of her own room.
The door opened and revealed the bedroom. It was perfect. Exactly what she wanted. She hadn't even known what she wanted but this was perfect. One poster in particular caught her attention. It was an old fight
poster of hers. It hadnât been her last fight, but it had been a good one. She had won that fight. God she was crying a lot lately, she thought as more tears fell.
âIt's perfect.â She laughed.
âThis is basically what I would have made for myself.âMagneto smiled, filling with pride at her acceptance of the room. He had set it up years ago - one for each of his children, for each of his daughters. All save for Anya, the one he had lost. Andy looked so much like her at times. âThereâs no need for tears,â he chided softly, before pulling his child into another embrace. âBut let them fall. Youâre safe. Youâre home.â
Safe. Home.
Would it be? Or had her motherâs curse doomed even this?Andy held onto Magneto tightly. She cried. More tears than she thought she had. There was so much to cry about that she hadn't had the chance to, not with someone she fully trusted. Her tears with Dorian had been nothing to what fell now. Everything since her last Christmas came tumbling out in those tears. She had been so stressed and scared for so long. Been teetering on a knife edge just trying to survive.
Coming to the future she had started building a life. It had been so hard though. She had been fretting about so many things and this reunion had been one of those things weighing on her. She had been so scared. And she felt safe. She felt loved. She felt protected. None of those things had been in her life for so long. And every time she thought she had, something had gone wrong. A voice in the back of Andyâs mind started eating at her, this too would fall.
Why had she left this? She could have had a father for the last seventeen years. A home.
After what felt like hours, but was likely only a couple of minutes. Andy took a deep breath centering herself. She pulled back from Magneto's embrace but still held onto him.
âThank you. I haven't felt safe in a very long time.â Had she ever felt safe? Would she find any place that was safety disintegrating around her as it always had? Was there no rebuilding a life ever again?
âWhen I was five the family I was living with got pregnant and put me back in the system. I thought that family was mine until they gave me up. I have had one other family and home between them and you. No one between them and the Drummonds ever held a space for me. I stopped trusting that people would. I was so scared when Genosha fell. I didn't think. I leaped. That might have been the wrong choice but I can't undo it. But thank you for holding a space for me.â Her voice quivered and broke.
âOh child,â Magneto murmured, before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. It broke his heart to hear all of this, for someone so young to have suffered so much. It wasnât right. But there was nothing he could do to change what had happened - all he could do was be there for her now, in whatever capacity he could. She was still just a child. And how could he blame her for how she reacted when Genosha fell? Even now, it still plagued his nightmares, the trauma of his youth mixing in with Seleneâs horrors.
âYou are too young for regrets,â he counseled. âI gave you my word, and I will give it again. You will
always have a place here. It does not matter what you have done. It does not matter who you become. You are my child, and I will
always be here.â He wasnât one to exchange I-love-yous. This was how he said it.
Andy had to take a few centering breaths to not break out in fresh tears. That was all she ever wanted was someone to just be her family. Her relationship with Selene was so complicated. But here she had safety and a home and no judgment. How long would it last? Sheâd hold onto it with everything she had. She would not let this go.
âThank you.â She managed to get out, sniffling.
âI need to wash my face. And then let's have tea.â She missed tea time with him. It was nice on Genosha. Despite the awkward stumbling between Zari and him. She loved that time. It meant a lot to her looking back. She didnât want to leave him again. She couldnât.
