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Freya fell on one knee, her hands over her ears. The spirits did the same. Wanda was less affected since the sonic boom avoided her. However, the brotherhood didn't wait for them to get ready so they scored a point.

So they want to play dirty. Fine. I'll play dirty too. Wanda thought.

Once the blond was back on her feet, one spirit was missing: it was Levia. Already, the weakness gained Freya before mid-game. Wanda noticed it but not as quickly as her brother. Until the score reached 15, the opposite team kept aiming at Freya in hope to weaken her more or even knock her out.

15-14 for the Brotherhood. Wanda was using her powers to full capacity and even controlled Freya's powers in order to make her spirits intervene when needed. She messed up the Brotherhood's powers and was even able to nullify two of them at the same time which surprised her. At this rate, she brought the score equal: 20-20. But even her had her limits.

Jacen waited in the van for awhile while Kitty and Kim made sure things were going smoothly. While they chatted, Jacen found the local rock station on the dial and cranked it. Pantera was on, and goddamn if it wasn't time for a bit of energization. "********' Dime," he muttered out of reverance as he absently wished he had a smoke. He was a bundle of nervous energy, because for the first time in his life, he was going to know exactly how he came to be.

"Now or never," Jacen said as he stepped out of the van, carrying his bag over his shoulder. As he walked up to the house, he heard a rather unpleasant Anna asking, "What is he doing here?"

"What am I doing here?," Jacen replied as he stood away from the crowd. "Why, I'm here to see what the situation is that my sister needs three of us to help her with."

"For the last time, I'm NOT your sister!," Anna practically yelled at Jacen.

"Your....our mother's name is Michelle, is it not?" Jacen knew because of his conversation with Freya in the rainforest. "Well? Am I going to get an answer?"

Anna looked away for a second and quietly said, "....Yes...."

"Anna, dear!! Who's at the door?!?," a man asked from inside the house. His voice seemed to be trembling, and there was an air of calm anxiety creeping around everywhere on the property.

"Just some friends from school, dad!," Anna shouted back. All four of them heard a rustle in the house, and someone stumbling. After that, there were some rather heavy footsteps as an older gentleman appeared in the doorway behind Anna.

"Hello, Anna's friends. She's told me alot about you....." He stopped speaking when he saw Jacen. It was almost as if he knew immediately why Jacen was here. Almost as if he could see the kid's mother in Jacen's face. With a sigh, Mr. Baker said, "....I had a feeling you'd show up some day."

"Why wouldn't I, Mr. Baker?," Jacen asked, giving the man the respect he should deserve. "I have a feeling that you know some things that I would probably like the answers too...."

"Yes....yes," Mr. Baker said as he looked around outside for a second. "Please...come in. We can discuss things in the relative saftey of our home."

Three points, and the Brotherhood would be getting a new slave. Morgan was feeling very tempted to go and join Freya and Wanda's side, just for this match. Despite all of their best efforts, with Freya's energy being sapped by just keeping the spirits there, and Wanda not able to target people and get to the ball at the same time, it wasn't looking too good for them.

Dammit, I don't want Pietro to have the satisfaction of winning again! I want to see him get that smug look smacked off his face! Morgan though, growing more and more frustrated as he watched the match.

Corky was really reluctent to play again. She didn't want to be interrupted just to play against Butch and Butch's Friend. The little fun she got from the first game had left and now volley ball was just boring. Parties were going to be starting soon, things way decent than beach volley ball were popping up everywhere. But, the game was almost over. They played till thirty points and the Brotherhood had racked up around twenty-seven. From what Courtney could tell they were ahead, which was fine with her. She was glad she chose the winning team to go to the beach with, especially now that Butch was numbing everyone's powers.

"SET" She called out, pushing the ball into the air with her fingertips. Someone would have to spike it.

"I'll get it!!" yelled Freya, totally in the game. However, she received the ball in the face and it was enough for her to fall down, unconscious on the sand. Her spirits vanished and only Wanda was standing on the ground, panting.

The goth rushed toward the blond and looked at her. "Freya? Freya, say something!" Her only answer was a snore. Wanda didn't know she was now worried about the excentric girl or just wanted to strangle her for sleeping in her face. "FREYA!!!!"

The blond blinked her eyes open but was still very sleepy and her nose started to bleed from the impact of the ball in her face. "Huh? Wha? Did we win?"

Wanda sighed in frustration. "The game isn't over yet but you're in no condition to continue this."

"No no no. I'm fine," started Freya as she held her nose to stop the bleeding.

"You are not fine. You let Porter take care of you and I'll handle things here."

"But...Wanda you can't win alone."

"So? It doesn't mean I can't give them a hard time." On this, she called Porter that took Freya out of the court and stood in the middle of the court, alone. "You laugh and I'm changing you into something you will hate," she threated the Brotherhood who gave her an odd look.

The ball was thrown and the Scarlet Witch hit it once before using her hex powers to send it back. However, it wasn't fast enough and her brother hit and with another scream of Sonic, Wanda could only cover her ears and let them get away with a point.

28-25 Brotherhood.

Score!!

The Brotherhood was ahead and if everything went well, they would have another slave in a couple of minutes. The gleeful smile on Victoria's face soon dissapeared when she look from Wanda and her fallen comrad to Peitro. he seemed lose, and full of sorrow at the same time. Squnting she realised that deep down he must have some love for his sister. Very deep down perhaps, but there none the less.

Seeming to come out of some deep revery, he slammed the ball back over the net and scored. The score was 29-26, Brotherhood's favor. The ball was in Wanda's hands, literally, now that her partner was down, thanks to herself on that part. Feeling guilty but wanting to win at the sametime, she closed her eyes and waited for someone else to take the shot. It would all be over soon, one way or the other.

((...Awe...we need a group hug...this is getting really touchy...))

Jamie nodded when Penny gave him the Katana. He understood how important it was, so he stashed it in a small spot under the floorboards in his room. He'd found it when he was trying to find a safe spot for his sword, and it seemed fine to keep the two of them together. He felt bad that Penny had left alone, but he'd missed the chance to offer coming along. Ah well, I might as well enjoy myself. . .

He walked back downstairs, and saw everyone was still sitting around. He said hello to everyone, and sat on a chair off to the side, drinking a soda.

"Hi dad," Penny said sitting down in an arm chair next to his bed. He looked seven shades of pale and his breathing was exceedingly shallow. He tried to sit up to greet her but she put a hand on his shoulder and moved to sitting on the side of his bed.

"Evie, I'm so glad you're here. I have so much to say to you," He sounded like he was trying to find a way to say five years worth of information he had never shared and now it was too late, "But... Evie, can you forgive me for how I treated you? Try not to hate me... I..."

"Dad," She put her hand on his, "I forgave you awhile ago. Let's not worry about that."

He looked happy at that like it was bearing down on him for awhile, "Tell me, Evie. Tell me about you... I don't know anything about you. I never have. Tell me why your mother never told me her secrets... I know the girls' too."

"She was afraid you'd love her less," Penny answered and looked away at the window. Talking about her mother made her incredibly sad, "She never told you from the beginning and she was afraid."

He frowned, "I guess I will have to talk to her about that. Come here and tell me about you. Tell me about what you do at Xavier's."

"I graduated, you know. You never thought I would," She lay down on the pillow next to him.

He shook his head, "I knew you would."

She told him about all of her lessons at Xavier's for the past four years, even the ones after school when she was still living in his house. Everything was told: how she was proficient in battles, leader of the team, and their latest adventures. She shared about her friends and told him all the little details about teammates... how Morgan finally asked Kitty to the prom, Danielle and Gen cracking out of their power shell, Jamie learning the katana, Regina and Porter finally almost having a date...

"Do you have pictures from prom?" He asked very surprised and interested, "Did you go with that nice young man you brought to the house once? The one who fixed my computer."

"Forge, no. He's a good friend, that's all," She picked up her bag and took out a small camera and started to flip through the pictures with him. He stopped at a picture of her and Jacen before the hounds hit actually... "That's how your mother looked at our wedding... You look so happy. I wish I could see more... Evie, just promise me three things. I know your world is crazy.... watch our for your sisters, teach them to live like you do - to the fullest, and be happy... be happy no matter what. Have a family someday and treat them better than I did... you would enjoy it."

"I will," She said and let him flip through her pictures of the beach and other Xavier events. He asked her about everybody in it and it made her sad that she didn't have more of these moments in her memories and wouldn't have anymore in the future. She listened to his breathing get more labored. She'd trade all her powers just to be able to heal him, to be able to turn that gift she had and help other people.

He was gone by midnight that evening. She stayed in the room until he moved on. He step mother and eldest sister were with her. Dawn cried on her shoulder for the better part of an hour before Penny helped her up to her own room. She fell asleep next to Dawn when neither had the will left to stay awake.