Pietro’s conversion to the Brotherhood had started almost the moment that he arrived on American soil. Xavier’s had been a place that felt more like a family than a school, which was the entirety of the reason why he felt deeply uncomfortable being among the X-Men’s ranks. He had lived his life with Wanda and Wanda alone, and that was enough for him, that was what safety felt like. Still, his sister had grown close to a lot of people in the school, and so he had spent more and more time there by extension. He had found himself in the library, pouring through Magneto’s lore, the books that had been composed about his speeches. Pietro had never been studious, but those books were something that captivated him, the idea that the mutant gene made him something special, made them the next phase of evolution, that one day they would rise up above their oppressors, and then they would know even a fraction of the pain that they had caused for hundreds of years.
Genetics meant destiny, according to Magneto. For other people that might have been a relief, to know that they belonged, to know they had a clear line to follow. For Pietro, Wanda and Lorna, that was a death sentence. It meant they were destined to become the villain of the story, a person that manipulated those around them, people that they were supposed to love, for their own ends. Pietro stepped back and he looked at his life thus far and he could recognise, now, that he had been Magneto for a lot longer than anyone might have suspected. He had never seen a sign of the Master of Magnetism in his sister, despite her arguments, but he saw Magneto every single time he looked into the mirror. Once, that had been a good thing. Now, it was a nightmare, reminding him how easily he could go down that path, how he almost already had.
“You were sure of who you were,” Pietro said with a shrug, even though none of this conversation felt casual. Truthfully, he had no idea how to interact with Lorna, how to be a part of her life. She was his sister, but she hadn’t been there since birth, hadn’t been beside him in everything. Yet, like he had said, she was here. That meant something. “Considering how much of a dick our dad is, that’s a really cool thing to be.” Lorna, surely, had to have the same identity crisis as Pietro had when his parentage was revealed. She had to wonder who she was, how many people had lied to her to hide the truth. Still, she knew that taking a life was something she didn’t want to do. How many could say that with certainty, in the life they led? “Hey, I turned a blind eye to a lot of it as well,” Pietro said. “I thought we were protecting mutants, and we were. I didn’t pay attention to the people we were hurting as a side effect.”
Wanda had known about Lorna before him. Pietro didn’t have any right to be even irritated by that considering the fact that it had been his decisions that caused the bond to break between them. Besides, it was Lorna’s secret to tell, her choice whether she wanted Pietro in her life. (Was that what this meant, her coming to him? That she wanted a relationship?) “I don’t think we’ll ever know,” Pietro admitted, a muscle in his jaw tightening. “No one can even get into his mind as long as he has that thing on his head.” Surely if Xavier could get through that barrier he would have by now? Surely he would have prevented Magneto from doing all the things he did, even if it meant taking away his free will? “Yeah. Yeah, I have people.” Pietro paused for a moment. “One more person than I had before, right?” It was a tentative question, though he said it fast enough that it might be mistaken for confidence.
“Anything’s better than him,” Pietro repeated, looking at Lorna for a long moment. He wasn’t entirely sure whether to bring this out into the open or not, but having someone to talk it over with, someone who understood it this intimately, wasn’t something he was going to pass up. “He told me he loved me. Looked me right in the eye, said those exact words as I was walking out the door. The thing is, I actually think he meant them. Or believed that he meant them.” How could someone who had broken them all into pieces say things like that? How could he look at the son that he had ostracised from everyone he loved, and say that he loved him too, that it could somehow make up for what he had lost? Then Lorna reached out, placed her hand on his shoulder, and Pietro felt himself still, at least for a moment. “It would definitely make me feel better,” he said, a weak attempt at a joke. “You think so?” Lorna had the same kind of honesty as Wanda did, the kind that made Pietro want to believe her. “Guess I’ve got my parents to thank for that. My real parents, not Magneto. I don’t know what Wanda’s told you already, but they were … they were good people.”
All her life, Lorna had longed to belong somewhere. She’d desperately attempted to dye her hair, to hide the green hue and pretend she was normal. When her powers developed, she’d longed for her foster parents to accept her, been heartbroken when they hadn’t. She’d gone to the X-Men, pretended not to notice the way some of the younger kids looked at her with wide eyes and clenched teeth every time she moved something metal around or otherwise demonstrated her powers in the Danger Room. For a long time, she’d been willing to cut off pieces of herself in order to fit in, been willing to change who she was and pretend the people accepting her would have wanted her just as much if she hadn’t hidden those parts away.
Slowly, she’d realized that she deserved to be herself and be accepted and, unfortunately, that was when Magneto found her. He’d seen that vulnerability inside of her and preyed on it, told her that he knew who she was better than anyone and could help her be better. For the first time, Lorna hadn’t been ashamed of her powers. She’d felt strong, felt powerful and unapologetic at the same time. If she’d continued down that path, she had no doubt that she would have caved eventually, had no doubt that, given a little more time, she would have used her powers to send angry gunmen’s bullets back through their own chests, would have driven crowbars yielded by anti-mutant protesters into their own skulls. Was she a good person because she’d left the Brotherhood before that happened? She wasn’t sure. She thought the knowledge that that side of her existed might erase any opprotunity she ever might have had at anything like that.
“I’ve never been sure of that,” she replied with a dry laugh, shaking her head. “Not even once.” That was part of why she’d admired Pietro when she’d first met him, part of why she’d liked him so instantly. In retrospect, maybe it had been his blood calling out to hers, but at the time, Lorna had just liked how sure he seemed. He was who he was, and he hadn’t been making apologies for it. The attitude had seemed so unattainable, so unshakable. Then, it drove him to do awful, terrible things. She’d been jealous of the things that arguably made her brother into a villain, the qualities that allowed him to kill people without question. “I’m not sure we were protecting anyone,” she admitted. “I thought we were, but I think... I think he just told us whatever he wanted us to hear. I think he just wanted to make us feel like we were doing something right so we wouldn’t question him. And I guess it worked.”
Pietro was right, of course. They’d never know anything about where they came from unless Erik wanted them to know, and he’d never share the information with them without demanding something in return. Their father wasn’t the type to offer anything for free, even if he claimed he was. Every move he made was calculated. They’d all learned that the hard way. “I guess not. That ---- That’s really fucked up.” It was obvious, but it needed saying. For all they knew, they could have had an army of half-siblings out there, and unless Magneto decided it benefited him to let them know, they never would. It was incredibly fucked up, and there wasn’t much they could do about it. Glancing up at the question, she offered him a small smile. “Right,” she agreed. She’d never belonged anywhere before, but maybe this was where she’d start. Maybe she could have something of a family with her siblings.
There was something in his eyes as he looked at her and, without knowing why, Lorna braced herself. It wasn’t enough. She winced minutely at the words, thinking of all the things he’d said to her. She was reminded of the snippets of memories from the flight her mother and stepfather had died on, of her mother’s words ringing through the plane while they fought. He made me feel special, she’d said, tears in her eyes at the confession. Apparently, he was good at that. “I don’t know what he believes,” she said quietly. “What he thinks he feels. But I don’t --- He can’t. He can’t love us. You don’t do the things he’s done to us to someone you love. He doesn’t love any of us. He can’t.” Her voice was almost pleading because, in a way, she needed it to be true. She needed to think that they were nothing more than pawns to their father because, if they were more, it humanized him. It made him a man instead of a monster, and Lorna didn’t want that.
“For a second,” she replied. “After that, you’d feel bad.” She knew it was true, knew that no matter how much their father might deserve to die for what he’d done, it shouldn’t be Pietro that did it. He’d suffered enough because of Magneto, and he didn’t need to suffer any more. “She hasn’t told me about them,” she replied with a faint smile. “I bet they were, though. My foster parents, they were... They were good until they weren’t. When my mutation developed, I guess it was too much for them. I don’t even know if I can blame them.” Pausing, she glanced up, eyeing him uncertainly. “I think my biological mother was a good person. She made a mistake, but she wanted to make it right. To make up for it.” She looked down at her feet, closing her eyes and swallowing before adding, “I killed her. That’s the memory he took from me.”
