Aunt Raven
Erik got out of the shower toweling his hair off with a soft white towel. His hair was sticking up in all directions and he quickly applied his pomade forcing it back into submission. He got dressed and walked back into the main part of the hotel room.
Peter was sprawled across the bed letting loose long snores. Erik was struck by how much he had missed his children’s life. He was thankful to be out but he had missed the majority of his children’s childhood. He didn’t know Wanda’s likes and dislikes. Was her favorite color still red, what type of music did she like. He hadn’t even gotten to meet Lorna, he loved her as soon as he heard of her just as he had with the twins. He didn’t know his children and it broke him. Even when he had lost Charles, he had his children.
He walked over to the sleeping Pietro throwing a blanket over his sleeping form. He ran a hand through Pietro soft silver locks. He was determined to make this a world that his children wouldn’t just survive in but would thrive in. They didn’t deserve to hide in the shadows hiding their powers and true identities. They should be able to walk down the street proud of who they are and where they came from. Obviously his approach didn’t work if the future was this bad. Maybe he would try Charles' approach if not a little more direct. People were always stronger united than segregated in two groups.
Steeling himself he strode out of the room towards Charles and Hank’s hotel room. He knocked briskly and Hank opened the door with his usual scowl in place. He stepped aside allowing Erik into the room. Logan was already there and they were going to get their plan of action together. This mission needed to be successful; his children’s lives and livelihood demanded it. If he couldn’t get Mystique to listen to reason he would have to take care of the situation in any way that he could. She could not be allowed to kill Trask, at least not yet and not publicly.
***
Peter had actually fallen asleep exhausted from his late night excursion so it was a great bit of luck that his Vati had decided to throw a blanket over his sleeping form. It had been enough to rouse him from his light sleep. He didn’t know why it shocked him when his Vati ran his hand through his hair, his father had never been shy about showing his affection for his children. His mother had said that after losing his older sister Anya their father hadn’t wanted to take anything for granted. Peter and his siblings may have never met their deceased sister but her life left an impression on all of them. His fathers overprotective sheltering and his mother bouts of depression and anger around Anya’s birthday and death anniversary. Things had gotten even harder on their mother ,when his father had been framed for murder.
Magda Maximoff was one strong lady and he would do anything to try to keep her from hurting. He was sure that she was terrified of him being with his father. He had heard bits and pieces of their conversation last night after they had landed in Paris. She had sounded livid and Peter was sure that he was going to be grounded for the foreseeable future. Not that her groundings really worked; it wasn’t hard to sneak around when he could run faster than the human eye could see. Her disappointed face was going to be punishment enough, he hated to see his mother’s disappointed frown.
Shaking himself out his thoughts he began to get dressed gathering up all of the goodies he had stolen last night for his mother and sisters. He had been glad that Erik had only made him return the painting. He was sure the Hermès bags that he had gotten them would be appreciated or at least he hoped that they would.
He dashed to the private jet they had arrived on first, stashing his loot onto the plane just in case his father didn’t want to go back to the hotel after seeing that Peter did exactly the opposite of what he was told to do. He just figured it was going to be easier for him to convince his Auntie Raven to not kill this dude than it would for his dad or the three musketeers. His Vati had a way of pissing people off without saying much of anything. He might do the opposite and cause his Aunt to react even more impulsively than she normally would. His Aunt thought he was adorable and Peter wasn’t above using that to his advantage; it was how he had convinced her to take him and Wanda to their first rock concert last year. Peter was sure that she would listen to him, if he couldn’t convince her the adults wouldn’t be able to.
Peter took off running and found his way into the building they would be holding the accords in. He began to wander the halls, He knew that his aunt was probably in disguise so he needed to let himself be seen. He was aimlessly wandering when he felt a hand wrap around his form arm tugging him into a maintenance closet. Looking at him was a scowling Vietnamese man. He grinned brightly, he had found his aunt. The man’s face began to melt away revealing a scowling pretty blue face. His aunt's apparent anger didn’t dampen his joy.
“Pietro Django Maximoff!!! What are you doing in Paris?!” She hissed at the fifteen year old her tone a mix of concern and annoyance.
“It’s a long story” He started but she cut him off which was impressive because he usually talked fast enough that it was near impossible to cut him off.
“I’m waiting, I want to hear all the gory details because I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to hold you down so your mom can kill you. Hell I might have to break your dad out so he can kill you” She snapped her hands coming to rest on her hips. Peter actually gulped at her stern tone before dialing up his adorable-ness.
“So like yesterday your brother Charles and his friends Logan and Hank showed up at my house. They wanted someone to break my Vati out of the Pentagon but they didn’t know he was my Vati… Well Logan might have but Hank and Charles didn’t for sure if their reactions were anything to go by. When I heard we were going to be breaking my Vati out of course I said yes not only would it be super rad, but like I’ve missed Vati a lot and I could always blame it on being coerced by grown men so like I'll be in less trouble hopefully. They also said that Logan had traveled from the future where apparently things are like super bad and we need to save you today to save the mutants. So like saving my Vati and saving my most favorite aunt was like a no brainer so of course I followed them, even if Charles looked pretty greasy” Peter said his piece in all one breath.
“Wait...What? Charles wouldn’t pull a fifteen year old into a prison break? Charles would do a prison break, he's a big old stick in the mud who always follows the rules,” His aunt looked really confused now and was currently staring at him like he had grown three heads.
“Yeah Vati was shocked too, but like maybe you should check on your brother cause he looks like he’s having a really hard time right now,” Peter suggested. Raven frowned even harder staring hard at Peter.
“Alright kid I’ll bite I need you to slow down though. I know that hard for you but I only comprehended about half of what you were telling me,” Raven sighed.
“Okay so your brother asked me to help break my Vati out of prison,” Peter said waiting for her response impatiently.
“Why?” She asked, she was having a hard time believing that Charles would involve a child in something like this. She also found it odd that he would do anything to help Erik after their beach divorce. She had given up the thought of those two ever working together when Charles didn’t even try to see if Erik had been innocent or not. She had barely been able to get away from Dallas. She had also been caught up trying to save her mutant brothers and sisters. She would need help to get Erik out and all of her help seemed to be winding up dead. It had been a part of the reason she had given up her only child. He would be safer with the nuns in Germany than he would be with her. She didn’t even know how you would explain to a child that their father had been tortured and killed. Her heart ached looking at Peter knowing that her own child would never know her.
Kurt had been such a happy baby always giggling and snuggling into her chest. It had been the hardest thing she had ever done giving him up. She wouldn’t have forgiven herself if something happened to him though. Evil men wouldn’t stop at just hurting adults. She had seen the files and they had made her sick to her stomach. Peter had broken her out of her grim thoughts with his next statement though.
“Well apparently it’s life or death and they need my Vati to help save you,” Peter explained, he really didn’t want Charles to have to deal with an angry sister. He knew from experience that it was the literal worst.
“Wait so Erik and Charles are working together, that’s impossible,” Raven muttered.
“Well I’m not lying, and why didn’t you tell me you were filthy rich, we could have been riding around in private jets this whole time. Well actually I’m not a huge fan of that now that I've done it but we could have known that a long time ago,” He was beginning to ramble again and Raven put a hand on his shoulder as a sign to chill out. Raven had never considered Charles money her own. Charles may have adopted her as a sister but his parents hadn’t adopted her as a daughter. That money was very much Charles’, not hers. She didn’t like thinking about her brother; it made her long for times gone by. That was a dangerous hint to do as a freedom fighter. Those that dwelled in the past didn’t last very long in the field. Erik had taught her that. She had started out very naive but she wasn’t the same nineteen year old girl that had left Charles on the beach in Cuba.
“I’m not rich. Charles is rich,” She rolled her eyes.
“That means you’re rich dude,” He smirked and she rolled her eyes again at his antics.
“Okay dude,” She said mockingly “What is so life and death; I’m trying to take out a terrorist who wants to exterminate all mutants,” She explained and Peter nodded knowingly.
“Yeah if you kill Trask they are going to kill you on the spot and they will end up using your blood to make even worse sentinels that are capable of creating a mutant genocide. So like you can’t kill Trask at least not here and now you’ll have to be more sneaky about it,” Peter explained as best as he could and Raven's eyes which had previously been clouded with a bit of exasperation were now clear with fear. Peter was fully aware of his background and would not use words like genocide lightly.
“Well I guess we better get back to this hotel of yours at what time were the others supposed to get her,“ Raven asked, there would be other opportunities to kill this man as much as she hated to admit it. She also didn’t want her surrogate nephew anywhere near an assassination just in case they might connect him to her.
“Not for another hour let's go surprise them,” a mischievous grin was plastered on his face.
“You weren’t supposed to leave the hotel were you?” She asked pointedly.
“You know how overprotective Vati is,” He rolled his eyes.
“Oh I’m fully aware,” she replied and Peter grabbed the back of her neck.
When Raven opened her eyes they were in a hotel room filled with her brother and his ex lover and she was sprinting to the nearest garbage can, throwing up every bit of the croissant she had inhaled for breakfast. Short sprints with Peter weren’t too bad but the hotel was a good five miles from the peace accords.
“Peter you little shit! A little warning next time,” she said wiping her mouth.
The men were staring at her with wide eyes in shock. They then turned their eyes back to Peter. Charles got up and stumbled a little making his way over to his estranged sister. He wrapped his arms around her blue shoulders holding her tight. Raven hesitated for a moment but returned the hug before her brother could turn away.
“God Raven, I have missed you,” Charles’ voice cracked with emotion. Raven hadn’t expected the warm welcome; she was sure that Charles had been angry with her. He had never tried reaching out after she left the beach. He had given her freedom but it had held a bittersweet edge to it. She hadn’t wanted to give up her brother for her freedom, she just hadn’t wanted to live in his shadow. Their moment was cut short by Erik snapping at his rebellious teenage son.
“Pietro explain,” Erik demanded, his voice unreadable. Peter gave an awkward smile hand coming up to rub the back of his neck.
“Well I figure you and Aunt Raven end up fighting when you’re on the best of terms and she seems to find my charm adorable so I went and found her before the conference could start,” Peter shrugged. Raven rolled her eyes so hard that Peter thought they might get stuck up there. What he was saying wasn’t wrong though, Raven had always had a soft spot for the Maximoff Children.
“You could have been killed!” Erik shouted, revealing that he was in fact actually very angry. Erik strode towards his teenage child checking him over for any signs of injury.
“Chill out you mother hen, he’s fine,” Raven sighed, the overprotective dad thing got old pretty quickly, but she couldn’t blame Erik. She didn’t know what she would have done if Kurt had been placed in a similar situation.
“So did Peter fill you in?” Hank asked, unable to help himself from blushing when he looked too long at Ravens blue unclothed form.
“Somewhat I think I would rather have a grown up’s version though if you don’t mind… Also Charles what the hell were you thinking dragging a child into a high stakes prison break!” She punched her brother in the arm certain to leave a sizable bruise. Charles had the decency to look ashamed of himself. He hadn’t exactly been in his right mind when Logan showed up at his manor, talking about a mutant genocide.
“I didn’t know that he was fifteen, I blame Logan here” Charles muttered rubbing the sore spot on his arm.
“We can explain on the plane ride home how quickly you will have the jet ready for take off” Erik demanded, still annoyed with the teenager's actions. Something was wrong though, the future was still uncertain. Had just getting Raven solved the issue Logan would have woken up confused without memory of what had happened in the last twenty four hours. That scared Erik, and he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.