Chapter Text

19. Lorna IV

Ulvheim, Oregon September 21, 1975

Lorna couldn't breathe. There was something on her neck. Heavy. Cold. Instinctively she reached for her powers, but electricity cursed though her body. She shook violently, the pain was overwhelming. Next to her, someone laughed cruelly.

"Nice try, mutie.", he said and Lorna turned to look at the person holding onto her upper arm, but he simply pushed her forward and through a door.

The room behind it looked... strange. The floor and walls were covered in a green material she had never seen before. It felt sticky to her tired, dragging feet.

Lorna was pushed forward and lost her footing, falling to her knees next to a man lying on the floor. She couldn't help but land halfway on top of him. He groaned and turned to look at her. He, too, wore a collar and his right leg was bend at an odd angle. His face was bloody and bruised, his nose still oozed blood. He hadn't had the best of days.

Behind them, the door was thrown shut.

"Hey. Are you okay? Can you hear me?", Lorna asked the stranger and reached for his hand. He looked familiar, somehow. A mutant. Yes! A famous one... Quicksilver! He was one of the X-Men! She'd seen him on TV.

"Quicksilver? Can you hear me?"

"Urgh, call me Peter."

"Okay. Where did they pick you up?"

"Right here, I was looking for...", finally he opened one eye, the other swollen shut and stared at her, "Lorna. Are you Lorna?"

"I am, yeah. Why is one of the X-Men looking for me?", Lorna was perplexed. She had been hiding from anything mutant related for the better part of two decades now. Until these assholes had grabbed her in the middle of Thailand.

"Wanda. Wanda sent us."

"Wanda? You know Wanda?! Is she alright? Is she okay?!"

"We found her. She's... weak, but she told us about you. She..."

The door behind them was opened, and three men walked in. The most obvious boss/henchmen combo Lorna had ever seen. No one said anything as one lackey grabbed Peter and hurled him up and the other one did the same to Lorna, dragging her away from Peter and onto the left side of their boss, who now stood in front and between the two collared mutants.

They were all facing the opposite wall, when it lit up and turned transparent. Lorna narrowed her eyes to make out the man on the other side. He was tall, looked familiar, he... Magneto. Possibly the most infamous mutant in existence was standing on the other side of that wall. The man, whose powers she shared. The man Wanda had said was their father. And he was HERE. Looking right at her.

"These yours?", the guy in charge asked.

Magneto's eyes left Lorna's face, slowly turning his attention towards the jerk just standing there.

"What do you want?", Magneto asked, his voice dispassionate.

"I don't like your tone, for one."

"Apologies. What do you want, asshole?"

Peter snorted. The man nodded towards the henchman holding Peter, who raised his arm and shot Peter in the head. Just like that. Lorna screamed, as Peter fell to the floor. 

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Something crashed. Yelled. 

Lorna turned back to look at Magneto. His fists on the glass, his face white as a sheet.

"No powers in here, I'm afraid. So how about we try this again, mh? You have one child left, after all."

Peter. Peter was... Wanda's Peter. She... she had told her that. Of course. Why hadn't Lorna made that connection? She was so tired. So sluggish. So... Peter was dead. She had just seen her brother die, she...

"Don't do this.", Magneto's voice was almost pleading now, not cocky, not... just...

"Please.", he added, "What do you want? It's yours."

There was a pause. Then: "To free the world of the plague that is your DNA."

Magneto's head whipped around, his panic-filled eyes were staring right into hers as Lorna heard a noise and then... nothing.

In her bedroom in Ulvheim, Lorna woke covered in sweat. Fenrir was curled up around her, still asleep, but he raised his head, when Lorna sat up and hunched over, trying to calm her upset stomach. No throwing up. No throwing up.

Lorna sat at the edge of her bed for five minutes, before she finally dared to go into the bathroom. A shower. A good, hot shower. She could smell herself and that was just not okay. Tired and slightly shaky, she stood under the hot stream for at least half an hour, before she wrapped her head in a towel, got dressed in new pajamas and quietly walked down the stairs and into the Master bedroom. Edie's cot was standing on Dad's side tonight, the baby fast asleep. Dad's left hand touching her little head, even as he slept. His right arm was slung around Anya, who had buried her face in his chest. Mom wasn't there, but that wasn't unusual. She slept less than the rest of them. She was probably watching TV in the living room or reading a book.

"Dad?", Lorna asked, hoping not to wake the little ones. Her father's eyes immediately flew open, looking at her in alarm.

"Lorna? What's wrong?"

"Nothing.", she shook her head, "I just... I'm sorry about today, Daddy."

"I know, sweetie. It's okay."

"I worried you. I just didn't know what to do, I...", Lorna stopped, choking on her tears. She hadn't realized she could still cry after that day. Who knew she still had any water left in her body.

"I know.", her Dad repeated.

"It was my idea."

"Of course it was. Come to bed, Lorna. Sleep a little. We'll talk in the morning, yeah? I promise you, I am not mad."

"Really?"

"Really."

Lorna sniffed, then used her mom's empty side to get into the bed and snuggle up to Anya, who didn't even stir.

She hadn't met her sister yet. Just seen her from a window. But that was okay, they'd have an early start in the morning.

Ulvheim, Oregon September 21, 1975

Lorna woke the next morning to a tiny, pointy food kicking her in the ribs.

"Oof.", she huffed and turned around, to get her face out of the danger zone, but the pointy creature followed her, simply climbing across her back and sitting in front of her. Yawning, Lorna opened her eyes to get a better look at her attacker and was faced with green eyes and a small, dark face framed by wild, unruly hair.

"Anya?", she asked, throwing a glance over her shoulder. Dad was gone, so was Edie. She was alone with her new older, younger sister.

The girl nodded, then excitedly said something. Lorna just looked at her. She should have learned Polish. At least the basics. Peter had. She hadn't even thought about it.

Oh, God. What now?! 

Anya said something else, looking around and pointing towards the bathroom making shushing noises.

"Pee? Do you need to pee? Toilet?"

"Toaleta!"

"Nice! Yes! I understood that. Come on!"

Anya looked at the pretty long way down from the bed and shook her head, so Lorna got out first and sat her down on the floor, from where Anya ran into the bathroom.

"Do you need help? Help?" 

Anya didn't answer, but when Lorna reached her, she was hopping from one leg to the other, so Lorna helped her undress and sat her down on the toilet.

"I'm Lorna.", she said, pointing at her chest, "Lorna."

"Lona."

"Close enough."

"Kompletny!"

"Complete? Oh, you're done! Here!", Lorna handed Anya toilet paper. At least she could apparently do that herself, then sat her down back on the ground and helped her get dressed again, before holding her up so she could wash her hands.

"Poppa?"

"Yeah, come on.", Lorna took Anya's hand and lead her into the kitchen. Always the first stop in the morning.

Mom, Dad and Wanda were sitting at the table, eating breakfast, with Edie hanging out in her sling on Mom's chest. It was almost 7 am. Apparently the family had skipped their morning run.

"Poppa!", Anya declared and ran up to Dad, jumping into his lap.

He laughed and replied something Lorna didn't understand, as she sat down next to Wanda and reached for some pancakes.

"Good morning. I learned a new word.", Lorna declared, "Toileta."

"Toaleta!", Anya corrected her.

"That's what I said!"

"Nie."

"And so it begins.", Mom sighed and hit her smile behind her ginormous mug.

Dad shook his head and pointed around the room, "Ida I Edie. Wanda. Lorna."

"Lona, tak."

"See? She knows me already.", Lorna looked at Wanda, grinning smugly.

"She knows us, too, genius. We spent three hours together on a plane yesterday.", Peter appeared next to them.

"And good morning to you, too, sunshine.", Mom shook her head.

"Morning.", Peter agreed and sat down, reaching for a stack of pancakes. He said something to Anya. But it didn't sound anywhere close to English, so Lorna was out.

Dad reached for another plate, put a pancake on it and held up the apple sauce Mom had bought extra for this occasion. There was a reason she had made pancakes... and bought a crate of fresh plums.

Anya nodded enthusiastically, as Dad prepared her breakfast.

"Pancake.", Lorna pointed at her plate, "Pancake."

Someone needed to start somewhere.

Anya narrowed her eyes, before realizing what Lorna wanted.

"N aleśnik,"

"I give up.", Lorna sighed, "Polish is complicated, maaaaaaan."

"We'll get there.", Mom promised, "Kids learn fast."

Peter said something to Anya, who laughed. Lorna could make out something that sounded like "Idiota".

"Peter.", Dad chided half-heartedly.

Lorna threw a plum at Peter's head, who caught it, of course, and handed it to Anya.

"Children.", Mom sighed, "Don't be a bad influence on your little sister."

"I thought that was the point of being the oldest.", Peter grinned.

"No. It's just what YOU make of it.", Dad told him, but he couldn't quiet hide the amusement in his voice.

"Why is Peter the only one that thought to learn Polish?", Lorna asked Wanda and reached for another pancake, "Peter, of all people."

"Because it takes him about two hours.", Wanda shrugged.

"No, it doesn't. If I speed learn, I'll forget it again. So... it took me half an hour every day, so it would stick."

"Perfect. Show-off."

"Not my fault you're a thoughtless..."

"Enough.", Mom declared, putting her mug down and causing Edie to start crying, which meant Mom got up and started walking up and down the kitchen, making shushing noises.

After Edie settled back down, they continued to eat in relative silence, with Anya occasionally asking something and someone that understood her, answering. Listening to her Mom answering in English, was so incredibly weird. She had never noticed that her Mom could somehow do this. There weren't many people not speaking English in a little town like Ulvheim.

When they had finished and put their things in the dishwasher, Dad said something to Anya, and Mom answered: "There are clothes in the wardrobe. I put them in there yesterday." 

Dad nodded and took Anya by the hand. 

"Ma?", Peter asked carefully, "Are you okay?"

"Sure, why not?"

Lorna saw Peter and Wanda exchange strange looks, as she reached for a bottle of cherry juice, she wanted to take back upstairs. 

The three of them ended up in their upstairs living room together half an hour later, when Lorna had gotten dressed, with Peter sitting on the floor and working on the marble track that had moved upstairs, now that Edie might choke on it.

Wanda was sitting on the couch, thumbing through the TV guide.

"Did you notice?", Wanda asked, as Lorna and her juice sat down on the other couch.

"Notice what?", Lorna was confused.

"Ma and Pa don't talk to each other.", Peter grumbled, changing one of the notes and letting the marble role, to see if it sounded right.

"Of course they do! We all talked.", Lorna countered.

"No.", Wanda shook her head, "They talked to us. Not each other."

"But...", Lorna trailed off, trying to remember breakfast in more detail.

"It was really obvious before you guys got there.", Wanda elaborated, "Like... they are trying to hide it, but it's pretty obvious."

"They don't touch each other, either.", Peter agreed, "I mean, they're not big on public displays of affection or anything, but... No arm on the other's back. No quick kiss, no nothing. I'm guessing Dad is really, really mad."

"No! I asked him. He promised, he really wasn't mad.", Lorna restated.

"At you.", Wanda reasoned, "He's not mad at you."

"Oh God.", Lorna felt sudden panic well up inside her, "I did this, right? It was my idea and now he's mad at Mom!"

"Lorna...", Peter tried to interrupt her.

"I told him it was my idea! He can't be mad at Mom!"

"I'm sure he'll..."

"But we did something good! Anya is here. He's happy! Why is he mad?!"

The twins both looked at her, apparently making sure she wasn't going to interrupt them anymore, before Wanda said; "I'd guess, it's a trust thing, you know? Ida trusts Dad not to let you drown while camping, and he trusts her not to send Peter through portals."

"But... Then he should be mad at me! Or us! Not Mom!"

"Lorna, We're his kids. It's different, it's..."

"Oh my God, are Mom and Dad breaking up?!"

"What?", Peter stared at her open-mouthed.

"Is Dad going to leave us? He can't, right? He won't?"

"At the most, he'd probably move into the big building and bunk with the other bachelors.", Peter laughed. Lorna didn't think it was funny. Far from it, actually. She hadn't really calmed down from the day before, so she promptly broke into tears.

"Peter!", Wanda scolded and sat down next to Lorna, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Dad isn't going anywhere, Lorna. He wouldn't, you know that, right?"

"He wanted to leave last year!"

"And he didn't. And he promised he wouldn't. Okay? I believe him. He would never leave you."

"I don't want him to move next door, either!"

"Yes. Thanks, Peter.", Wanda huffed, "I'm sure he won't do that. He loves your Mom, okay? That's really, really obvious."

"If he left, would you go with him?"

"Lorna, he's not leaving. Really. Honestly. It was just a stupid joke. He loves you so, so much.", Wanda tried again, as Lorna sobbed into her shirt.

"And? It was my idea. I did this! What if this is so bad, he won't forgive me for splitting up him and Mom and he leaves?! What if Dad stops loving me?!"

"He would NEVER. That's not Dad, come on, Lorna. Parents don't work like that."

"Why not? Your Mom stopped loving you, when you got powers!"

"Hot damn.", Peter whistled through his teeth and Lorna finally raised her head from Wanda's shoulder and brushed her tears away.

"I'm sorry, Wanda! That was mean. I didn't mean it."

Wanda was crying now, too. Staring at Lorna with wide, hurt eyes.

"I'm so, so sorry! I just keep making everything worse. All I do it hurt people!"

Peter vanished, leaving the door open behind him, then returned ten seconds later, with a woozy looking Mom and a happily laughing Edie.

"Really, Peter, really?! After the last time?!"

"Sorry, Ma, emergency!", Peter declared bouncing Edie on his hip and motioning towards his sisters on the couch, "See? Emergency."

"Girls, what happened?!", Mom looked horrified, then squeezed in between them, putting one arm around each of them.

"Are you and Dad splitting up?", Lorna sobbed, "And is it all my fault?"

"What? No. What makes you think that?"

"You not talking to each other at breakfast.", Peter explained.

"We talked to each other!"

"No.", Wanda shook her head.

"Ooookay, maybe we were a little less... affectionate than normal."

Lorna sobbed.

"Hey, your Dad is a little angry. I knew he would be, and he has every right to be mad, okay? That doesn't mean we won't talk about it and be okay. That's what adults do, you know? We talk about it and then get over things."

"Didn't you talk yesterday?", Lorna asked.

"We did, yes."

"They were yelling.", Peter added helpfully, "I heard them."

"Thank you, Peter.", Mom groaned, "We weren't yelling. We started talking things through. That's all."

"Then why aren't you good yet?", Lorna sniffed.

"We might need to give your Dad more than 12 hours.", Mom replied drily, "It was a bit of a rough day. The four of us knew for months. He got blindsided. We can all be a little patient with him, can't we?"

"Fine.", Lorna relented.

"Now... Wanda. Are you sad about your Dad and me, too?"

"No."

"Is there something I can do to help you?"

"No."

"I said something mean about her Mom.", Lorna admitted quietly, "It just slipped out."

"So all and all a great morning for the Northmans.", Mom sighed, pulling poor Wanda a bit closer.

"She didn't even say anything I didn't already know.", Wanda replied, "It just kinda hurt to hear her say my Mom didn't love me."

"Lorna!", Mom said in the exact same tone Wanda had used on Peter only minutes before. Honestly, it was so funny, it stopped Lorna crying all together.

Peter started laughing. Lorna looked at him. Yepp, he'd definatly heard it, too.

"What's so funny about Mom not loving me, Peter?", Wanda asked snidely.

"The fact that you sound exactly like Ma.", Peter shrugged.

Mom and Wanda looked at each other in confusion.

"She does?", Mom asked at the same time as Wanda said: "I do?"

Peter and Lorna both burst out laughing. 

"Ey!", Wanda complained.

"Don't mind them, Darling.", Mom shook her head and pressed a kiss to Wanda's hair, "I love you. And so does your Dad."

Ulvheim, Oregon September 21, 1975

The day Edie was born had been kinda weird. The day after even weirder. Suddenly there was a tiny little creature in the house and everything was different. But simultaneously there wasn't really that much to do about it.

Now Anya was there and Lorna found herself faced with the same problem. On the one hand, it felt like everything should now be about her new sister. On the other, there wasn't really that much to DO with a four-year-old. Or as a family. So what now?

Dad had taken Anya outside after breakfast, and they had only returned for a quiet lunch outside on the lawn. Now he'd taken both Edie and Anya for a nap, Mom had decided to walk over to the Mendozas to get the van back, Peter had run off... And Lorna? 

"Wanda?", Lorna knocked at her big sister's door.

Wanda opened it almost immediately.

"I'm bored.", Lorna declared.

"How? You have endless entertainment available. You could literally just go and walk over to Joe's. Or I could drive you to Gertie's... watch TV, read a book..."

"I'm restless. Nothing catches me."

"Okay..."

"Wanda, are you still mad about this morning?"

"I wasn't even mad this morning, honestly."

"I thought about taking Gladys out."

"Gladys? I will never understand how you could give a horse like that a name like Gladys."

"What's wrong with Gladys?"

"Everything."

Lorna rolled her eyes. Gladys was beautiful. Beautiful, sturdy and quick. She'd been Lorna's horse ever since she outgrew her pony Sparkle.

"Will you come with? We haven't done that in a while."

Wanda cocked her head to the side, then nodded: "Why not? Hey, do you think Anya will ride Sparkle now?"

"I hope so! I mean, the Mendozas have been keeping him busy. He loves kids. You think Anya will like riding a pony?"

"I'm sure she will. Let me change into my riding clothes, and then we'll meet downstairs in 15 minutes, yeah?"

"Cool!"

When Lorna made it outside, Wanda was already saddling Jupiter, who was beautiful, yes. But no one was ever going to be a match for Gladys. Fenrir was lying next to her, apparently tagging along.

"I stole Peter's backpack.", Wanda grinned and pointed to the side, "So we have some snacks and all that."

"Nice!"

It really was nice. To spend some time alone with Wanda. Just them, the horses and nature. And Fenrir, of course, running ahead through the crisp water. It was warm outside, the air was beautiful... they rode up one of the rivers that flowed into the lake by their house. Found a nice spot to rest, eat and even take a quick swim, with Gladys and Jupiter happily grazing by their side.

Lying on their blanket to dry, Wanda took Lorna's hand and said: "This is it, Lorna. This is the life."

"We are pretty lucky.", Lorna admitted.

"I see different lives.", Wanda said.

"I know."

"Most of them suck."

"I'm so sorry."

"In moments like this I hope that a less lucky Wanda is with me, seeing this and getting a part of my happiness."

"I dreamt something strange tonight, Wanda. Something different."

"What was it?"

"Sometimes I dream your dreams, you know?"

"I... yeah, I know."

"But this was different. It was me. An older me. I was imprisoned. Then Peter was there. And Dad. They killed us, Wanda. Peter and I. Right in front of Dad. They wanted to free the world of..."

"The plague that is Dad's DNA", Wanda finished and Lorna turned her head to look at her, "I know. I've seen it. I've seen a lot of these kinds of scenarios. Worlds... whatever you want to call them."

"Did you dream the same last night?"

"No."

"Then why did I? If it was just your powers projecting?"

"I think this one was yours, not mine."

"But I don't HAVE that power."

"Who knows anymore, Lorna? I certainly don't. Time to give up on logic."

"Great."

"I have a book. I write them all down. Maybe we can get one for you, too?"

"Sounds like an idea, yeah."

They made their way back home soon after and Lorna felt much better. She'd told someone about her dream. Mom had assured her Dad wouldn't leave. 

The last part of their track went over their paved road and Lorna had a good laugh at some of the newer folks staring at her and Gladys. Yes, yes. She was ginormous.

"Koń!", was the first thing Lorna heard, when they made it back home.

"Doozy koń!", Anya yelled. Or at least that's what it sounded like to Lorna.

"That is a giant horse, yes.", Mom agreed from her place on the blanket next to Anya, where Edie was taking part in her least favorite activity: Tummy time.

"Doozy pies!"

"Our pies are a doozy?", Wanda asked and got off Jupiter.

"D uży pies.", Dad corrected, pronouncing the words carefully, "Big dog."

He had stuck his head out of one of the sheds to talk to them, a smudge of dirt on his face and spider webs in his hair.

"What are you doing, Dad?", Wanda laughed.

"I'm looking for Lorna's old bike. And the training wheels."

"Do you like riding a bike, Anya?", Lorna asked and carefully got off Gladys. Anya was still staring at the giant, black shire horse with awe. Understandable. Gladys was taller than Lorna, after all. Lorna actually wasn't sure who was taller: Mom and Dad or Gladys.

"Do you want to sit on Gladys?", Lorna added, "Sit?"

"S iedzieć!"

"Dad?! Can you lift Anya up on Gladys' back?", Lorna yelled. There was a banging sound from the shed and her father appeared once more.

"Excuse me?", he looked a little terrified. Okay. Maybe a lot.

"Siedzieć!", Anya declared.

"Nie."

"Ale!"

"Erik, Gladys is a very calm horse. She'd never hurt Anya.", Mom tried. Dad looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"Gladys is over a tone of muscle. GLADYS weighs more than your car!"

Gladys started to carefully nibble on Lorna's hair.

"He's just insecure, because she's taller than him.", Wanda stage whispered.

"Gladys is taller than the Empire State Building, Wanda.", Dad snapped, "Anya can sit on Jupiter."

He walked up towards Jupiter and said something, before pointing at the smaller horse. 

Anya empathetically shook her head, pointed at Gladys and said: "D uży koń!"

"I'll go and rub Jupiter down.", Wanda sighed and walked towards the stable.

Dad and Anya were staring at each other, like they were seeing who'd cave first. Which was probably exactly what was happening.

"Honestly, Wanda and I were talking about how she'd might like to ride Sparkle. Now I'm not sure.", Lorna lamented.

Mom laughed, then shrugged, "That's your Dad's decision, not mine."

Oh dear. Did she detect a note of... snark?

Dad gave her a strange look, before he said something to Anya again, who pointed at Gladys again.

"Would it help, if I just rode with her around the property once? She can sit in front of me.", Lorna offered.

"Fine.", Dad finally relented.

And so Lorna did exactly that: She took her new, happily laughing sister around the house, held her close and thought Wanda really was right: Life was pretty good.