Never Deny [ Wanda ]

[Wanda Maximoff]

Wanda did not smile when Laura entered. She had been friendly last time, now they needed to start getting results or she would be taken off the case. Today she was going to try something else, though she would still hopefully be building a layer of trust between herself and the young nearly mute girl. Today it was time to start dealing with Laura and not Wanda, it was no longer about the redemption of the Scarlet Witch it was about Talon.

"I love my father dearly, he tried to murder an entire race," she said starting the conversation, "I believe he did what he felt was best, even if I believe with all my heart and soul that he did wrong. I still love him, he is still my father. He has killed people, but I still dream we could be a family."

"People talk about good and evil, but there really is no such thing. These are concepts that we invented for ourselves, to define actions that we either approve of our do not. If I were to say that you were evil for killing someone, I would simply be saying that I do not approve of killing," Wanda said. She studied the girl, "I will point out that I do not, but i do not think my beliefs about killing should have any bearing on anyone else. What I think is completely illreleveant. The question is, what do you think. So Laura, what do you think about having killed people?

Going right at killing was a fairly desperate measure. Wanda would have preferred to ease into the sessions, but then again they did not have the time. Laura had to stop using physical force to get her way at the Institute, otherwise she would be asked to leave. As with Julian Wanda feared that the Institute was the only shot at being able to grow up with a strong moral sense. Otherwise she foresaw the Brotherhood in the young girl's future, or worse.

[Laura Kinney]

[/i][/color]

The former Brotherhood member had chosen to truly dive in headfirst to this. Laura blinked, her nearly automatic reply to most when she was to think about it. She couldn't think about whether or not to answer - the instinct to not break a vow, even one as simple as the one she shared with Wanda, was one she could not get rid of. This is, unless there was a dramatic act that would radically change her view of the moral mentor.

Killing people? That was what she was born to do. What else was she going to do with six long blades? Make paper cutouts for big stationary companies or something? No, they weren't useful for that at all. They wouldn't be as deadly as they if she didn't go through that program.

"I can not change what happened, so I do not dwell on it," she stated after a few moments of thought. She didn't linger on the blunt of all she had done. She had eventually, when on her own, had tried to use the skills she harnessed for something a little more meaningful to someone other than a paycheck. Didn't work out very well, because she couldn't decide if the kill was for the right reason. Regardless, the act had been carried out.

She had it in her mind that she should have regret. But she didn't, not for most of the deaths she caused.[/ul]

[Wanda Maximoff]

"I can not change what happened, so I do not dwell on it."

Wanda nodded. It was the pragmatic answer, and one that was completely understandable. A lot of people saw no point in dredging up the past, and felt that like a shark they had to kep moving forward or else they would drown. Wanda was the opposite, she dwelt on everything, from her guilt over her Brotherhood past to her day's classes and even know she knew that tonight she would be laying in bed trying to decide whether or not she had done the right things in this session. The trouble is the use of violence was to Laura the moral equivalent of using toothpaste when brushing her teeth, it was just a tool. The lives she had took were not dwelt on, because she did not particularly care. Or so it seemed to Wanda.

"I am sorry dear, but today we are going to dwell on it. Use this computer room to bring up a copy of the five people you killed that you can remember the best," she said, assuming that the girl had the ability to do that. If Laura was going to try to ignore her past Wanda was going to bring it to her. She had no desire to distress the girl, but she wanted her to understand that she had hurt people and that doing that was not acceptable. If she was to learn that violence was a tool of last resort, she had to understand the consequences of it. That meant dwelling on the past.

The two women were very different, Wanda realized that. She had always assumed that Laura must torment herself over the lives that she had taken and to discover that it was not much of a big deal to the girl disturbed her. Perhaps she had taken on more than she could handle, and perhaps this was something better suited to Emma Frost or Maria. However Wanda wanted to believe that she could reach the student, she wanted to believe that somewhere deep down there was a part of Laura that was sorry for what she had done and wanted to find a new way of living.

[Laura Kinney]

[/b][/color] she started. Her breath exhaled from her lungs again. "Former Senator Gregory DeGuzman." Over just a few seconds a man appeared to the side of Laura, a few feet away. He was middle-aged with dark brown hair, dressed in a well-kept suit. Most knew him as the Presidential candidate killed along with dozens of others at a campaign party.

"Tamaki Kaoru," with those words came an elderly man of Asian decent. He was dressed like the martial arts teacher he once was - he had been her sensei. Laura stopped for a minute after those two, then continued, "Debrah Alexander." Up came a woman in her mid-forties, soft dark hair and easy brown eyes.

Another pause, then her words became a little softer, "Megan Alexander." A girl in her late teens appeared next to Debrah's figure, a spiky patch of blonde hair one of few differences shared between the mother and daughter. There was a weight on the feral girl's chest, a familiar one that she chose to ignore.

She didn't say the last one right away; she didn't say it at all once she considered it. The entire time she had her eyes fixed on Wanda, not once looking at the images the computer had conjured. Her throat closed at the thought of the last she had to say. She didn't say it, not after feeling the fake stares of the people already shown. They didn't move much, just thoughtlessly glanced around the empty Danger Room.[/ul]

[Wanda Maximoff]

Wanda stood up and watched as one by one a small number of the victims of Laura Kinney appeared before them. This was delicate what she was doing, and with no real training in psychology she knew that this brought the pair of them to the razor's edge. If it went wrong she could push Laura away, turn her more inward and ensure that the girl would never be anything other than a killer. If it went right, well it would be the first step on a very long journey that they both would have to take together. Wanda was silent still, walking past each of the simulated victims and studying them. All the time she kept her front to Laura, knowing that pressing the girl in this way could trigger a violent reaction and wanting to be ready if that happened.

They were of all ages, of all sorts. It was true what Laura had said, one could not change the past not even Wanda could manage that. However if one ignored the past then they were completely unable to change the future. The beauty of the past, in all its ugliness, was that it allowed its survivors to shape a better future for themselves. Laura was unwilling, or unable to let that happen and so she was stuck somewhere between who she had been and who she wanted to become.

"So you do not think about it, because it is not something you can change?" Wanda asked, trying to be as cold and Emma Frost like as she could. This part was hard, hard on her and most likely hard on Laura. "These people had names, and families, loved ones. Fathers taken from their babies, mothers from daughters. What do you feel seeing them like this? Have you forgotten what it felt like to murder them, would you do it again if I asked you to?"

As she said that last line she stopped at the youngest, a girl that Laura had called Megan. She placed a hand on Megan's shoulder and the girl turned in response to the physical contact. Surprised she looked at Wanda and smiled, "Hello."

"If it's just a fact of life, something that you do like breathing or eating, why not." Wanda asked raising an eyebrow. She studied Laura, waiting for the girl's answer, be it physical or verbal. It was remarkable how lifelike the girl whose shoulder she was touching felt, seemed. Wanda almost wanted to weep for what she was about to put the simulated child through, because it was unlikely to be pretty.

[Laura Kinney]

[/i][/color]

Laura shut her eyes even before she heard the voice. It was bad enough hearing the needle pricks of words that Wanda had pressed on to the teenager. She hated thinking about their families - all of them. There was no doubt that nearly every single person she had killed had someone to mourn for them, or had someone who be given the burden of whatever was handed through the generations. But hearing Megan's voice made her stop in her tracks. She held her breath, her throat closed shut and hands balling into fists. Her nail dug deep into flesh, the sting remaining as long as she applied the pressure with her muscles.

She opened her eyes again when Wanda spoke. She glared at the woman who, in Laura's mind, had been told to try and break the feral teen of her violent habits. She was growing that way right now, not liking that the other mutant had her hand on her cousin's shoulder. She didn't like the coldness of Wanda's words. The instructor must have been told she would need to use force.

Well, it was starting to be like a cleaver knife was hacking at her shoulder.

"Let go of her.." Laura said very softly. At the moment she was losing the fact that they were just simulations. They were real enough for Laura.[/ul]

[Wanda Maximoff]

"Let go of her.."

Wanda looked between Laura and the girl whose shoulder she was still touching. It was not easy, and it went against all of her instincts but she felt that she had to press the issue and discover whether or not there was any regret within the young mutant. If there was not then there was little that Wanda would be able to offer, if there was then they could begin to work towards the sort of redemption that Wanda hoped the young girl secretly wanted. Which meant pressing the issue, which meant being far more cruel than she had ever been. It almost made her physically ill to do, but it was either her doing it or someone like Emma Frost who might actually enjoy it.

"I don't think I will," Wanda said, moving her hand from the girl's shoulder to her neck and squeezing slightly.

The simulation of the young girl reacted naturally to the change, grabbing and trying to pull Wanda's hand away from her neck and exclaiming, "Hey what gives?" Wanda turned to the girl, wanting to apologize but instead forcing herself to remain silent. This next step would be the decider, and could very well determine whether or not Laura would ever make it at the Xavier Institute. Pushing the girl towards Laura Wanda let go.

"Kill her for me. I've never seen someone murdered," she said, "Kill her or else you have to leave the school and never can come back. We need to know whether you can take orders."

The girl stumbled towards Talon, her eyes focusing on the mutant, "Laura?" Wanda watched and at the same time began to charge her own mutant powers. Crimson red energy filled her eyes and began to surround her hand like a translucent glove.

She grinned as evily and coldly as she could manage, "Either you kill her or I will."

It took all of her self-control not to recant, and try to stop this. Breaking into tears or being physically ill were also other options, but she forced herself to stay in control and as cold and distant as possible. This was not something that she enjoyed, and if she did not feel it were absolutely nessicary she would have stopped it long ago. Instead she pressed onwards, hoping that this lead to the breakthrough that they had been working towards.

[Laura Kinney]

[/i][/color]

The bitch; the evil, wicked bitch. This wasn't a simulation anymore. The natural reaction she heard from Megan, the voice, was just as it had been in her memories. Her green eyes looked at Megan, lids expanded in the slight shock and horror. Her jaw set tight, the muscles flexing on her porcelain face. The inside of her fists were filled with a small stream of blood, but it did not seep out when she tightened her digits.

Laura didn't move when Megan was shoved toward her, the girl stumbling to her knees. The mutant looked into the glittering emerald orbs that seemingly matched the ones she owned. Her head was tilted down to fully perceive Megan's appearance, her face darkened slightly. Her body shivered in anger, or what she assumed as only so. The Scarlet Witch was yelling at her, demanding her to kill Megan. The blonde was questioning the situation, wanting to know what was going on.

SNIKT!

Sounding as if they had been removed from a proper, more fitting hilt for a sword, the two pairs of blades cut through her skin. She heard Megan inhaled a sharp breath, a look of pure fear washing over her face. She stared at Megan's face, looking at every detail that she already knew by memory. "Laura, what are you doing? You wouldn't really do that, would you? Laura?" The young woman didn't shift at the pleas coming from the simulation for a few seconds, and then finally took a step toward her.

With each step she made she came closer to Megan. Eventually she was to the side of her, in full view by Wanda. She lifted her gaze to the Scarlet Witch, anger written all over her face. Laura took a step past Megan and then to the side, standing between the mutant and the blonde, her stance one of defense. "Me first," she growled, emerald orbs glassy as she blinked.[/ul]

[Wanda Maximoff]

Wanda relaxed, the energy draining from around her. Then she turned around and vomited on the floor of the Danger Room. The tension she had built up inside her, having to play the part of the cruel woman demanding that Talon kill for her had taken its toll. Her body began to shake, a reaction she had been fighting since Laura had entered the Danger Room. After a moment she manged to get her stomach muscles back under control, and she stood, wipping her mouth on the sleeve of her hooded sweatshirt. She was holding back tears. Nodding she smiled, but this time warmly.

"Good," she said finally, "I am sorry for that. I needed to know if you had limits. You do, and I am proud of you for standing up to me. It took more courage than most people have to do that. More courage than I would have had."

Waving her hand at the simulated people she said, "Make them go away if you'd like. Start up a program if you want, anything."

The issue now was if Laura would ever trust her again. Wanda could understand if she did not, if she never forgave the Scarlet Witch for what she had just put her through. It was a sort of torture, but Wanda needed to see if Laura had any sort of connection at all emotionally to those she had killed, or if they were all just objects to her. Her previous detachment to those she had killed had seemed like the major obstacle moving forward, now though Wanda knew that at the very least Laura would not kill on a whim.

Wanda looked tired, she felt tired. The entire thing had worn on her far more than she had thought it would. Play acting as the villain in this piece had been hard, more so because she knew how much harder it was going to be for Laura. Though Wanda did not really know the girl, she still felt at least a partial kinship with her. They had both come from questionable pasts, and hoped to start anew at the Xavier Institute.

[Laura Kinney]

[/b][/color] she commanded. Only when Wanda had mentioned it did the girl remember what it really was. Even then, it didn't matter. If she had remembered that during her last actions, she would have still done the same. She could not have been able to stand seeing Megan's death.

She didn't start a new program, however, despite it had been an option. The four simulations left the room just as quick as they had appeared, Megan being the first to leave. Her claws were still exposed, a tool of self-security at this point. Even though Wanda's demeanor seemingly changed, she still did not like it; now more than before. She had taken advantage of what Laura had given her, and the feral was not about to let that happen again. Not now.

"You should not have assumed I would have killed her," she said, her head lifted to face Wanda more straight-on, eyes still shining with the slight abundance of saline along the rims.[/ul]

[Wanda Maximoff]

"You should not have assumed I would have killed her."

The words stung Wanda and she nodded. It was ture, she should not have assumed that but she had to know. There had actually been three outcomes that she had prepared for. The best one was the one that had occured, that Laura would prove her strenght and refuse to kill and refuse to use violence at all. The other two saw Laura doing as she was told while the final one was that she would try to kill Wanda instead.

Wanda looked ashamed, because she flet that way. Nodding again she approached the girl slowly, her arms at her sides with her palms facing towards Laura to show that she had nothing in her hands. "You are right, but I needed to know," she said, "We can not change the past, but we can learn from it and let it help us as we build our future. You had three options, two of which involved violence. You choose the one that protected others even at the expense of your own life. It was what an X-Man would have done."

Stopping less than two feet from Laura she knew that now she was well within the range of the girl's claws. There would be nothing she could do to defend herself if Laura choose to strike out at her. She knew that she would never forgive herself for what she had put the other woman through, and that even if this ended up leading to a breakthrough, the feeling of having to be so cold and cruel would always haunt her. Since joining the Brotherhood Wanda had feared that part of herself, believing that somewhere deep within her was that woman. Her father's daughter was in there somewhere, a cruel and violent woman and Wanda worried that one day she would give in and become her. Even pretending to be that woman scared her.

"I promise never to hurt you again," she said softly reaching out to wrap her arms around the girl. She moved slowly, allowing Laura to back away if she wanted, and half expecting a sudden sharp pain in her stomach from the young girl's claws.

[Laura Kinney]

[/i][/color]

Would there have been another action made by the ice-like act, Laura would have chosen door number two. There was not a fault in her thought when she considered it. She had been too warped in with the simulation, as it turned to reality for that brief moment. But she didn't voice this truth. It had not been asked of her, so there would not be any answer. She didn't even know if she'd do so for any other question that was asked.

"I promise never to hurt you again."

She had absorbed every move Wanda made toward her, becoming more and more aware of their close proximity. When the woman nearly made contact with her outstretched arms, Laura raised a solitary hand. With the movement the two swords returned to their muscle housing, not once coming in contact with the woman, despite their lack of distance. Her hand lay flat on Wanda's stomach, stopping her from moving any farther. She closed her eyes, the lids fluttering slightly.

"Don't make that promise," she concluded,”You do not know if you will actually need to do so again, even to your obvious distaste.” She opened the green orbs now, looking at Wanda. Already she knew it was a lie; already she knew that if Wanda to make some progress, there was a chance she would need to use another fearful method like the one just used. Maybe the feral really did want to tame some of her inner self.[/ul]

[Wanda Maximoff]

”You do not know if you will actually need to do so again, even to your obvious distaste.”

Wanda stopped, feeling Laura's hand press against her chest. She wanted to hold the girl and tell her it would be alright, that everything was just a vision and that it had all been a sort of dream world cooked up by the computer. Instead she respected the girl's desire for distance and stayed away, resisting her urge to mother the other mutant. Stepping back slightly she hugged herself, still visibly upset with the situation but able to get herself back in control. Looking weak was not something Wanda ever considered typically, but now she knew she needed to show some strenght so that Laura would respect her.

"I can not expect you to learn from your past mistakes if I do not learn from mine," Wanda said, "I will not hurt you again, whatever we do together from this point forward I will be completely honest. To bring out the best in you I can not use the worst of myself."

Wanda knew that there were some in the school who would have done this without feeling even a tingle of guilt. Maybe they were stronger than her, maybe it was true that Emma Frost was the right person to run the school because she had that ruthless edge that allowed her to make the hard decisions and that Wanda was ultimately too soft hearted. Still as much as it hurt, and as much as she hated herself for it, Wanda was glad that she was the one who had done this. Another might not have known when to stop, or pressed harder and further.

Glancing at the still visible door to the Danger Room, there was no program running at the time so it had remained visible, Wanda sighed, "I think we should take a break and return tomorrow. From this point forward I promise that we will be working together."

Pushing her hair back she walked towards the door, turning just before exiting to smile again, "I am very proud of you." Then she was gone.